Misconduct is an action that may compromise the career of a nurse, but can be defended properly by a nurse attorney should the nurse provides a good reason. This is a matter that should be defended properly, especially if the RN or LVN values their career. If the nurse attorney is more experienced, the better defense the nurse may receive.
The instances of medical malpractice occurred on or about December 25, 2016, when an RN based in San Antonio lacked fitness to practice vocational nursing in that she was found sleeping while caring for the patient who required continuous care. The RN subsequently admitted to dozing off.
The Texas Board of Nursing gave the RN a chance to defend her case. She states around 9 pm on the 24th, the patient’s wife ordered her to dim the bedside table lamp and turn off the light above the sink. Around 12 midnight, after doing patient care, she turned off the light, sat on the sofa, and she does not know when she dozed off. Having worked with agitated patients for a number of days, she needed to be active and alert all night, but the patient’s wife kept her inactive by keeping her in a semi-dark room. She states she did not purposely fall asleep at the job.
However, the RN’s condition could have affected her ability to recognize subtle signs, symptoms or changes in patients’ conditions, and could have affected her ability to make rational, accurate, and appropriate assessments, judgments, and decisions regarding patient care, thereby placing the patients in potential danger. Therefore, the Texas Board of Nursing subjected the RN’s license to disciplinary action.
Another incident of misconduct happened on or about November 12, 2016. While employed as an RN in San Antonio, she failed to follow the six rights of medication administration when she neglected to verify the correct patient using two identifiers and failed to scan the patient’s bottle of milk prior to giving the bottle to the patient’s mother for administration. As a result, the patient was administered breast milk that belonged to a different patient. Her conduct exposed the patient to the risk of harm from exposure to foreign protein and possible infectious pathogens and communicable conditions.
The RN was also given the chance to defend her case. She states that the patient’s parent gave her two bottles of expressed breast milk, which she placed in the designated basket. When the parents requested it, she retrieved it and gave it to them. She did not scan it nor check the name, and the patient received the wrong breast milk. She accepts responsibility for this incident.
The Texas Board of Nursing subjected the RN’s license to disciplinary action.
The instances of misconduct can be defended further should the RN hire a skilled nurse attorney. For a private consultation, you may contact Nurse Attorney Yong J. An by dialing him at (832)-428-567.