The practice of the nursing profession can become a challenging one. There is a need to follow several rules and regulations in order to prevent revocation of the nursing license. In the past, several cases were filed against different nurses for misconduct and gross negligence. If experiencing such a scenario, you can hire a nurse attorney for help. The government agency that has jurisdiction in handling administrative cases against an LVN or RN nurse is the Texas Board of Nursing (BON).
Let’s examine the case of an LVN in 2018. At the time of the initial incident, she was employed as an LVN with a home health care agency in Irving, Texas, and had been in that position for five (5) years and seven (7) months.
On or about May 9, 2018, through May 10, 2019, while employed as an LVN with a home health care agency providing Private Duty Nursing (PDN) care to pediatric patients in Irving, Texas, LVN did the following:
- failed to obtain vital signs for a patient every four (4) hours; failed to complete gastrostomy tube (Gtube) site care, failed to administer a continuous infusion of the enteral feeding at 2 ml/hr, failed to administer TPN at 45 ml/hr, failed to administer a Lipid infusion at 2.7 ml/hr, and failed to notify the physician of the oxygen saturation readings below 93% during her twelve (12) hour shift. LVN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient from unknown and/or undetected changes in condition, and the failure to administer nutrition as ordered by the physician could have resulted in a nutritional deficit.
- failed to completely and accurately document an IV assessment, enteral feedings intake and G-tube site care, gastric residual amounts, IV infusions of TPN and Lipids intake, signs and symptoms when oxygen saturations were below 93%, frequency of suctioning including method and results, breath sounds or presence of a cough, any seizure activity, and patient response to interventions. Instead, LVN incorrectly documented TPN as formula under nutritional assessment, and 1000 ml of water continuous when no water was ordered and checked NA for feeding tube in the GI assessment when there was a continuous feeding order. LVN’s conduct created an inaccurate medical record and was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent caregivers did not have accurate and complete information on which to base their decisions for further care.
In response, LVN states that she provided care according to the patient’s plan of care. LVN further states that she didn’t completely and accurately document the intake and output as it was a busy night because of the high acuity of the patient. LVN explains that these situations can cause distractions that may affect nursing documentation. LVN adds that she did document in error ” 1000 cc water continuous” and to the best of her recollection, the child didn’t actually receive water.
The above actions constitute grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with Section 301.452(b)(10)&(13), Texas Occupations Code, and is a violation of 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.11(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(C),(1)(D),(1)(M),(1)(T)&(2)(A) and 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.12(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(E)&(4).
Unfortunately, she failed to properly defend her case against the Texas BON. She was disciplined and her LVN license was put on disciplinary action by the Texas Board of Nursing.
Avoid the same thing from happening to your License. If you are looking for a Texas nurse attorney that has a proven track record in this practice area, contact the Law Firm of Yong J. 24/7 by calling or texting him at (832) 428-5679 for a confidential consultation. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is an experienced nurse attorney for various licensing cases for 16 years and represented over 200 nurse BON license cases before the Texas BON to protect their RN or LVN license.