The Texas Board of Nursing and TPAPN's Continued Misuse of EtG Testing
Recently I have been the attorney of record in nursing license defense matters against the Texas Board of Nursing for a number of registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses (RN & LVN Practice) in cases where a low level EtG test is in issue despite clear indications that these test results are inadequate proof of deliberate consumption of ethyl alcohol (ETOH). Thus the formal charge by the BON is unsupported by adequate admissible evidence and should not be the basis for the discipline of the nursing license / registration. In most of these cases a favorable result is anticipated for the nurse, but not without a long and arduous fight against the staff and lawyers of the Texas Board of Nursing.
Generally the cases arise in one of two ways:
- The Texas Peer Assistance Program for Nurses (TPAPN) is monitoring someone’s nursing practice pursuant to a Board Directive or Agreed Order and as such any low level test per TPAPN policy is considered a violation and is per se grounds for dismissal from TPAPN. This is also cause for a new report to the Texas Board of Nursing and Staff’s allegations / Formal Charges that the Nurse’s conduct is “unprofessional”;
- The Texas Board of Nursing has disciplined the license of a Nurse who is now under an Agreed Order and monitored by staff of the Board’s compliance and enforcement division (Carolyn Hudson for LVN Practice and Diane Burell for RN and APN practice).
In either case my law firm has seen low level tests where the result is less than 1000 ng/ml being used as an attempted basis for the unwarranted discipline of a nursing license by the attorneys and executive director of the Texas Board of Nursing in spite of clear advisory warnings that the test is in-and-of-itself flawed. Despite clear evidentiary problems staff of the Texas Board of Nursing still attempts to impose new disciplinary action against the nurse and their nursing license that generally involves either a voluntary surrender or an order of enforced suspension. This is especially egregious, as in most of the cases that the lawyers in my law firm have reviewed there is no indication that the nurse has actually violated their agreed order or the Texas Nursing Practice Act.
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In a recent case I am the attorney for a Nurse (RN) who admitted truthfully on her license renewal form that she had attended treatment for alcohol use and dependency (Substance Abuse). There were no practice issues alleged and a long history of quality nursing care provided. The Nurse was ordered to TPAPN under a Board Order and she had been compliant in TPAPN for almost two (2) years -22 months to be exact.
The client then threw off a low lying result for EtG which was under 500 ng/ml. Nevertheless TPAPN deemed her non-compliant and reported her to the Texas Board of Nursing for further prosecution and licensure discipline. Staff of the Board is now attempting to revoke her license even though she has never been charged or deemed to have committed a nursing practice error and there is no evidence that she has been anything but sober.
SAMSHA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) has posted an advisory warning that the EtG lacks proven reliability and should not be used as the basis for regulatory action on its own. Despite this fact, staff of the Texas Board of Nursing continues to harass and punish nurses who do not hire an experienced attorney to defend themselves in a license defense matter involving allegations / violations of the Nursing Practice Act. The punishment is executed in the form of an Agreed Order of Surrender or Enforced Suspension until the nurse goes through unnecessary treatment again and demonstrates one-year of objective and verifiable proof of sobriety / abstinence. Any nurse with a vested interest in thier license owes it to themselves to call an experienced attorney so they may better understand and properly assert their rights.
Texas Board of Nursing's Pre-Approved Evaluator List: What Every Texas Nurse Should Know
In cases involving possible alcohol/controlled substance abuse or mental health issues, the Texas Board of Nursing frequently asks nurses to submit to a forensic psychological evaluation and polygraph examination. This standard letter also contains a list of pre-approved evaluators and polygraph examiners. Any nurse who receives such a request should immediately stop and call an attorney with experience practicing before the Texas Board of Nursing.
The psychologists and psychiatrists referenced on this pre-approved list are there solely because they have a history of providing one-sided reports supporting whatever disciplinary measures the Board is considering imposing on your license. During the past decade I have represented approximately one thousand nurses before the Texas Board of Nursing. Throughout this period I have never seen an evaluation performed by a professional on the pre-approved list that is favorable to the nurse. This includes individuals whose entire history involves one or two DWIs or misdemeanor marijuana charges from two or more decades ago.
The bulk of these questionable evaluations are performed by two forensic psychologists in Richardson Texas. When reading an evaluation by one of these evaluators, I am frequently shocked by the vast leap between the verifiable facts in a given case, the results from the relevant forensic tests (such as the SASSI), and the final recommendations of the Board evaluators. Regardless of whether or not it is objectively justified, this recommendation is typically for revocation, referral to TPAPN, or the imposition of a long period of Board monitoring.
For example, one recent case involved a nurse with a ten-year old deferred adjudication involving possession of methamphetamines. Despite ten intervening years of incident-free nursing practice, my client’s successful completion of five years of community supervision (including the provision of five years of clean drug screens), and no other evidence of a problem, one of the above-referenced doctors wrote an evaluation finding that the nurse was an addict, unfit to practice nursing, and that the Board should seek to revoke her license. At this point the nurse felt the situation was so hopeless she had already sent started voluntarily surrendering to the Board; however, thanks to a last minute call to my office, I was able to rescind her surrender and ultimately have her case dismissed without any disciplinary action.
I have previously blogged about the Board’s use of polygraph examinations on this site which I urge you to read. The bottom line is that despite being scientifically invalid and clearly inadmissible in court, the Board continues to request polygraph exams. This is presumably so that their pre-approved evaluators can then use the questionable results to claim that a nurse was lying or overly defensive during the examination. Yet, even in the rare instance where the nurse obtains a clean polygraph, the forensic psychologist’s evaluation is invariably still negative.
Any nurse who receives a request from the Board that they should submit to a forensic evaluation and polygraph exam should immediately contact an attorney with experience before the Texas Board of Nursing. You need to know your rights including the ability to refuse the polygraph exam and request an evaluator not on the pre-approved list. By seeing one of the Board’s evaluators and polygraph examiners you place your nursing license at significant risk. A negative report will have to be rebutted, likely through a second evaluation by a neutral and better credentialed evaluator. Even then there is still a disfavorable evaluation out there raising an issue as to your fitness to practice.
I sincerely urge you to contact a lawyer prior to simply acceding to the request. More is at stake than you might think and you shouldn’t go ahead without some advice from someone other than the agency who holds authority over your license.
Enough is Enough: Texas Board of Nursing Pursuit of Licensees Following Criminal Acquittal
Recently I have represented several nurses before the Texas Board of Nursing who were being pursued by Board Staff for allegations for which they had already been acquitted by the criminal justice system. As one would expect, this quasi-double jeopardy is extremely frustrating to the nurse. Despite already having hired a criminal lawyer and clearing their name in criminal court, they must now hire a license defense attorney to do the same thing before the Board of Nursing.
The most recent example, involved a case where the nurse had been accused of an inappropriate touching by a ten year old girl. The girl claimed that she had awaken at a sleep over at the client’s house to discover the nurse touching her; however, there were several inconsistencies with the girl’s testimony and it later came out that she was friends with another young girl who had made the exact same allegation (down to every detail) against my client several years prior but had subsequently admitted to her mother that she had made it up.
At the close of the nurse’s criminal trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. Moreover, Child Protective Services had conducted their own investigation into the matter and determined that nothing had occurred. Yet, despite his acquittal and the negative finding by Child Protective Services, the Texas Board of Nursing decided to pursue their own disciplinary action against my client, seeking the revocation of his nursing license.
Thankfully, my firm was able to enforce the expunction order which had previously been entered by the criminal court to prevent the Board from using second-hand records from that trial to prove their case. Instead, the Board of Nursing was forced to bring the girl to testify in person at a hearing at the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Based on conflicting testimony from our witnesses and several discrepancies between the girl’s original outcry and her testimony at the hearing, the Administrative Law Judge concluded that the Board of Nursing had not met their burden of proof and accordingly entered an opinion favorable to the nurse.
I understand that the Board has a mission to protect the public from bad nurses; nevertheless, at some point one has to think that enough is enough. A person should only have to clear their name so many times before it is reasonable for the Board to think twice about wasting state money to retry a licensee for the same conduct.
The underlying lesson is that simply because you received a not guilty verdict in criminal court or the District Attorney decided not to prosecute, you are not shielded from a licensure action by the Texas Board of Nursing. They frequently subject a nurse licensee to yet another legal action where they are forced to again clear their name or face severe restrictions on, or even termination, of their livelihood. If you are facing such a situation with the Texas Board of Nursing, I highly recommend that you contact a seasoned administrative attorney with experience before the Texas Board of Nursing and the State Office of Administrative Hearings as otherwise you could be risking your license.
