Misconduct and negligence have been a signature specialty of a nurse attorney in Edinburg when handling cases for some nurses. However, some nurses tend to forget this fact because they really felt like they should be responsible even if they never intended to commit such an error.
On or about September 29, 2019, while employed as a Licensed Vocational Nurse in a medical facility in Edinburg, the LVN inappropriately administered Tylenol-Codeine #3 to a patient without a valid physician’s order. She subsequently reactivated the medication in the Medication Administration Record, without authorization, after realizing it had previously been discontinued. She did not report the medication error to a physician and/or staff until the following day.
The LVN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient in that the administration of medications without a valid physician’s order could result in the patient suffering from adverse reactions
In response to the incident, the LVN states that this was an unintentional medication error. She states that on the day in question, her patient requested pain medication due to severe pain. The LVN explains that they do not carry pain medication on the medication cart as it’s in their Passport system. She states that she went to the Passport system, which only carries active medications, to type in the patient’s name and found that Tylenol #3 was active to include the dose, time, and route.
The LVN states that she pulled the medication out, and then went to her computer system to sign it out when she discovered it was not in there. She states that she believed that the nurse practitioner forgot to add this medication to the computer, therefore, she activated it herself to give to the patient. She states that she did not prescribe the medication, and she did not know that the nurse practitioner discontinued it as it was still active with Pharmacy in the Passport system.
The LVN states that no alert showed that the medication had been discontinued. She states that after she gave the medication to her patient, the patient was alert, oriented, and the pain was controlled. She states that the next morning she clarified the medication issue with the nurse practitioner who informed her that it was discontinued.
As a result, the Texas Board of Nursing placed her LVN license to disciplinary action. It’s too bad that she failed to hire a nurse attorney for assistance, knowing that she had every reason to defend herself in the first place. Her defense would have gotten better if she actually sought legal consultation from a nurse attorney in Edinburg as well.
So if you’re facing a complaint from the Board, it’s best to seek legal advice first. Edinburg Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is willing to assist every nurse in need of immediate help for nurse licensing cases. To contact him, please dial (832)-428-5679 for a confidential consultation or for more inquiries.