ARIZONANURSELAWYERS.COM INFORMATION
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Public Documents pertaining to Lawsuit against Arizona State Board of Nursing:
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ARIZONA NURSES - ALERT re: "Interim Orders":
On April 19, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. (during a special meeting), the Arizona Board voted to rescind all of its outstanding Interim Orders that ordered nurses to pay for medical or psychological evaluations.
This action was taken because two lawyers, on behalf of two nurses, filed a lawsuit seeking a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the Board from enforcing the Interim Orders against these nurses because the Board has no authority to require nurses to pay for them.
The Board has received letters and motions from one or more lawyers for many years, explaining the position that the Board had no legal authority to require nurses to pay for the cost of complying with these Interim Orders - to no avail.
It took the time and expense of a lawsuit to get the Board to stop illegally ordering nurses to pay these evaluation costs, which can be as high as $4,000 per evaluation.
How this affects you: You should be entitled to a refund from the Nursing Board if you have ever paid the costs associated with an Interim Order - this is an order the Board issued during the investigation of a complaint, before (1) offering you a Consent Agreement, (2) sending your case to hearing, (3) dismissing a complaint against you, or (3) issuing a Letter of Concern.
Contact an attorney for more information, or contact:
Ms. Gervase and Ms. Sanzio are pursuing collecting refunds for all nurses in this situation. If you would like more information, please contact one of us.
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ARIZONA NURSES - READ THIS BEFORE YOU PROCEED WITH A COMPLAINT FROM THE ARIZONA STATE BOARD OF NURSING:
1. If a complaint is filed against you, you'll receive a letter, with a "Questionnaire" to complete and return to the assigned Investigator (sometimes called "Nurse Practice Consultant). Do NOT say or write anything without competent legal advice.
2. Obtain a copy of the complaint filed against you, so you have some idea of what's going on.
3. After conferring with a competent attorney, carefully write a complete, accurate, thorough response (the "Questionnaire").
4. Anything and everything that you put down on the Questionnaire can and will be used against you. Every employer or school may receive a subpoena from the assigned investigator. Every person, regardless of their first-hand knowledge of the allegations in the complaint, may be interviewed by the investigator.
5. Your attorney should gather all documents, witness statements, and any other evidence to prove the accurate facts. Unfortunately, this information may be lost over time, so it's important to gather it soon.
6. Do not count on the assigned investigator to gather accurate, complete and objective facts. They may be too busy. They may be inexperienced or lacking training. Potential witnesses may tell the investigator what they think the investigator wants to hear because "they are the investigator for the Nursing Board" that also regulates the witness. They may not ask open-ended or follow-up questions. The possible reasons go on.
7. Once you, alone or with the help of a competent lawyer, provide the written response (Questionnaire), you wait for the investigator to complete the investigation. Could take months. Then, you'll be contacted to be interviewed.
8. You and/or your attorney should review the investigative file before any investigative interview. Currently, the Board does not allow the nurse or their attorney to have the investigator's report ("Investigative Report" or "I.R"). This is bad policy, under the guise that the I.R. is 'confidential'. So, you're trusting that the I.R. relays accurate information to the Board.
9. Consult a competent attorney about your rights and duties about the Investigative Interview. Whether you submit to an Investigative Interview or not, your case will be presented to the Board at one of its regular public meetings. The Board can:
a. Dismiss the complaint,
b. Issue a non-disciplinary Letter of Concern,
c. Send the case to hearing,
d. Offer (NOT force) you a Consent Agreement for some type of discipline. In this situation, a couple of weeks after the Board meeting, you'll receive a draft agreement in the mail to review. Have your attorney help you with this to make sure the facts are accurate and complete, the cited laws and rules are accurate, and the offered disciplinary action is reasonable and workable.
e. Issue an Interim Order for some type of exam or evaluation. Currently, the Board would have to pay the cost of this.
10. If accurate, complete, objective facts show that you violated the Nursing laws or rules, you may be facing disciplinary action. If it's a first-time minor incident, the complaint may be dismissed. Or, the Board may issue a non-disciplinary "Letter of Concern". Yeah! Case over. Or, you may be facing discipline, such as:
a. Fine, Decree of Censure (Reprimand), Probation of some sort, Suspension, Revocation.
b. If you agree with the factual findings and with the sections of the law and/or rules the Board says you violated, consider negotiating a settlement, called a "Consent Agreement". You would be well-advised to have a competent attorney advise you about this.
10. If you don't agree with the alleged facts and violations, you have the right to a formal hearing before an independent law judge (Administrative Law Judge -"ALJ"- at the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings). You would be well-advised to have a competent attorney represent you at this point, if you didn't hire someone at the beginning.
11. Once your case has been sent to the Board's hearing department, you may receive a letter asking you to accept a Consent Agreement. If you previously were offered a Consent Agreement, it'll be the same one again. The latter may say that if the hearing is scheduled, and then the case settles, requiring the hearing to be 'vacated', that you'll be charged $200 for the cost of setting the hearing. Currently, the Board has NO authority to charge you his. So, again, consult with a competent attorney about this.
12. It may take months or a year or more for you to receive a "Complaint and Notice of Hearing". But, don't delay. Start preparing your defense, including getting a copy of the I.R., which you'll finally have access to (because your case was sent to hearing). And, get a copy of the case file. Gather evidence/witnesses on your behalf. You'll have a full and fair opportunity to defend yourself and challenge the Board's evidence at a hearing.
13. You're case may settle favorably before hearing. If not, about 30 days after the hearing, the ALJ send his/her report with Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and a Recommendation, to the Board. The Board can accept, reject, or modify each of the sections of the ALJ's report, with some caveats. Usually, Boards accept the ALJ's report and recommendation.
14. NONE of this can substitute for legal advice from a knowledgeable and competent attorney. Good luck!
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LAW CHANGES:
WATCH for the Nursing Board proposing a law change to give it the authority to order nurses to pay for costly Interim Order medical or psychological evaluations! OPPOSE this change. These evaluations are improperly used as investigative tools, rather than the Board's investigators conducting an accurate, thorough, objective investigation and letting the accurate facts fall where they may. When the Board doesn't know what to do, they order a nurse to an evaluation, that costs hundred-thousands of dollars. The evaluators must be Board-approved. You cannot choose your own evaluator, even if they have proper credentials, if the person isn't Board-approved.
The Board orders dozens of evaluations at each Board meeting. No other state agency orders its licensees to undergo evaluations at the rate. Most agencies that have authority to order its licensees to pay for these evaluations, use this tool sparingly. And, have licensees often better able to afford them, such as medical doctors. Can you afford this? Do you want the Board, who regularly and routinely orders these evaluations as an information-gathering investigative tool, as though they're nothing, to have the authority to make you pay for them? Contact all legislators - loud, clear and often.
You can find a list of Arizona's 30 senators and 60 representatives on the www.azleg.gov website. Email/call/write them all.
2009: SB 1105, Arizona State Board of Nursing (AZBN) legislative changes (among other many things) allows the AZBN to obtain a nurse’s confidential patient medical records without authorization. For an complete copy of the law changes go to www.azbn.gov. This is serious, and is believed to violate HIPPA. Be cautious about what prior employment and medical information you disclose to anyone! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAWYERS:
Representing nurse practitioners, nurses, certified nursing assistants, and applicants before the Nursing Board is in the area of law called "licensing, regulatory, administrative law". Hire someone what has experience and competence in this area, and hopefully with this Board.
A few such lawyers and their brief biographies are below:
480-515-4801
Teressa Sanzio -
602-993-3215
D. Jay Ryan -
623-937-3737
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