Nurse License | The Health Law Firm Blog

Please, Please, Please Do NOT Talk to the Department of Health (DOH) Investigator

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

Whether you are a nurse, physician, pharmacist or dentist, I beseech you: please do not talk to a Department of Health (DOH) investigator until you have talked to a health lawyer who is experienced with DOH investigations and board licensing complaints. Do not answer or respond to even the most basic questions about where you work now, what your address is or if you know patient x, until consulting with counsel.

Admitting to the Simplest Facts May Harm You.

We are routinely consulted by nursing professionals and other healthcare providers for representation after they have discussed […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:54-04:00May 15, 2018|Board of Nursing, Defense, Department of Health, Nurse License|

The American Nurses Association Breathes New Life Into The Nursing Code of Ethics For 2015

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

On a daily basis, the average nurse uses knowledge, training and ethical standards to make vital decisions regarding patient health. Nurses are required to quickly process simple and complex emergency situations, which leaves little room for second guessing. So, to help guide those in the profession, the American Nurses Association (ANA) created a Code of Ethics.

This Code is the structure that provides foundational standards and offers guidance to practicing nurses for various situations. It also sets the standards against which nursing performance can be judged. For the first time since 2001, the […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:20-04:00May 15, 2018|Board of Nursing, Medicare Fraud, Nurse Depositions, Nurse License, Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Law Blog, registered nurse|

Florida Bill to Expand Authority of Nurses Flatlines During 2014 Legislative Session

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

The 2014 Legislative Session ended May 2, 2014, with the death of an omnibus health bill. House Bill 7113 would have provided provisions to expand the power of nurse practitioners to work independently of physicians’ oversight. This extension of authority to nurses would no longer require them to contract with and pay a “supervising” physician. The bill died after being passed back and forth between the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate numerous times. It could not be resuscitated or kept alive by artificial means.

Currently, Florida nurse practitioners must work under direct […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:19-04:00May 15, 2018|Board of Nursing, Nurse Aide, Nurse License, Nurse Practitioner, Nurses Service Organization|

Nurses, No More Excuses: Get Personal Professional Liability Insurance Policy Now-Part 2

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

Nurses, I am writing this to strongly encourage you to purchase your own professional liability insurance policy. I have noticed many nurses fail to carry any insurance to protect one of their most precious assets, their nursing licenses. Yet such insurance is cheap and easy to obtain. Professional liability insurance will protect a nurse in the event of a lawsuit, and it may also pay legal defenses in the event of a complaint against a nurse’s license to practice or for other legal problems. If you already have nursing liability insurance, make sure it […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:18-04:00May 15, 2018|Defense, Insurance, Malpractice, Nurse License|

Appealing Final Orders and Emergency Suspension Orders (ESOs) from the Florida Board of Nursing

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

The professional boards for licensed health professionals in Florida, such as the Board of Nursing, are all under the Florida Department of Health (DOH). Each board is responsible for disciplinary actions and other matters regulating the professions under its authority. The investigators and attorneys assigned for Board of Nursing matters all work for or are assigned to the DOH. The Florida DOH is headed up by the Florida Surgeon General. I think of the DOH as the umbrella agency over the professional boards or as a parent corporation which owns many subsidiary corporations.

Administrative Procedures Governing Investigations […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:17-04:00May 15, 2018|Board of Nursing, Department of Health, Discipline, Emergency Suspension Order, Insurance, Nurse License|

Terrible Things That Can Happen after Discipline on Your Nursing License or Resignation of a Nursing License after Notice of Investigation

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

Do you have nursing licenses in several different states? Do you have a license in more than one health profession? Have you been notified that an investigation has been opened against you? Are you thinking about resigning your nursing license or voluntarily relinquishing such a license? Then you must be aware of the following.

First, you should never voluntarily relinquish or resign your license after you know that an investigation has been opened or that disciplinary action has been taken against you. Such a resignation is considered to be a “disciplinary relinquishment” and […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:16-04:00May 15, 2018|Board of Nursing, Defense, Discipline, Nurse License|

Overcoming License Suspension and Revocation Pending Appeal

By: Lance O. Leider, J.D.

If you are a doctor, nurse, dentist, psychologist, pharmacist, massage therapist or other licensed health professional whose license has been recently revoked or suspended, there may still be hope. Ordinarily, you must immediately stop practicing or you risk being prosecuted for unlicensed practice, a felony. Although this blog deals with Florida law, similar relief may be available in other states, too.

One of the hardest things about having a license suspended or revoked is that it immediately cuts off the licensee’s sole source of income. If you have a thriving practice, this will usually destroy any value your business has. Without income, paying your bills […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:11-04:00May 15, 2018|Department of Health, Discipline, Nurse License|

Tips, Pointers and Reminders for Administrative Hearings

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

Formal administrative hearings are one of the options provided to a person who has significant (or substantial) interests that will be affected by agency action and who contests the material facts involved in the case.

In this blog, we are usually discussing a hearing involving the professional license of the nurse. In many cases this will be a notice of intent to deny a license application; however, in most cases, it will be based on an administrative complaint filed against the nurse charging the nurse with a violation of the Nurse Practice Act or other misconduct.

A […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:09-04:00May 15, 2018|Administrative Complaints, Administrative Hearing, Board of Nursing, Nurse License|

Nurse: Please Talk to an Attorney Before You Talk to an Investigator

By Lance Leider, J.D.

In Florida, You DO NOT Have to Speak to an Investigator!

Despite mailing out hundreds of thousands of postcards and letters to nurses throughout Florida, we continue to receive calls from new clients and from potential clients, after they have already spoken to and made critical harmful admissions against their own interests to investigators. In Florida, you do not have any duty to cooperate with any investigator who is investigating you. This extends to Department of Health (DOH) investigators (who are sometimes titled “Medical Quality Assurance Investigators” or “Medical Malpractice Investigators”), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agents, police officers, sheriff’s deputies, or criminal investigators of any […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:08-04:00May 15, 2018|Board of Nursing, Department of Health, Nurse License|

Adverse Consequences of Discipline Against Your Nursing License

By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

If the Florida Department of Health (DOH) takes discipline against your Florida nursing license, this will have many significant consequences.

Investigation and Discipline of Other State Licenses.

The discipline will be reported to every other state in which you have a license and similar investigations will be opened by those states.

Many states also have laws similar to those of Florida which require you to report discipline yourself to the other state in which you are licensed. Sometimes this is very short, 15 or 30 days, for example. Check the other state’s laws to be sure.

Discipline Against […]

By The Health Law Firm|2024-03-14T10:01:07-04:00May 15, 2018|Department of Health, Discipline, Nurse License|