Nursing License Defense Attorneys

Drug Diversion in Health Care

Drug Diversion is defined as the misappropriation of a prescription drug without legal authorization. For nurses, this can mean being accused of drug diversion for issues such as failure to properly waste, Pyxis errors, and stealing narcotics from a hospital/employer. Our lawyers have represented hundreds of nurses, physicians and pharmacists in a wide range of drug diversion allegations, from multiple-count federal indictments to state licensing infractions. Our nursing license attorneys have significant experience handling state and federal drug diversion cases, as well as administrative and criminal drug diversion cases.

DUI with a Medical License

Sadly, too many nurses have lost their nursing license because of a DUI. Others have undergone lengthy, invasive and expensive monitoring requirements by the state’s impairment program. All too many nurses enter the state’s impairment program without first consulting a nursing license defense attorney. Our attorneys strive to help nurses protect their nursing license and ability to practice unrestricted and without monitoring requirements. We represent both nurses who have recently been charged with a DUI and nurses that are facing disciplinary action for a prior DUI.

Failing a Drug Test as a Nurse

Our attorneys regularly represent nurses who have failed a drug test. Most often a nurse fails a drug test because of pain medications, marijuana, benzodiazepines or alcohol. Usually, the nurse is accused of drug diversion along with testing positive for drugs. Failing a pre-employment or employer-ordered drug test can be a very serious matter. Generally, a nurse who fails a drug test is promptly terminated from employment and reported to the state to faces licensing action. Under certain conditions, the state can immediately suspend a nurse’s license. Our attorneys can help protect your nursing license if you are accused of failing a drug test.

Nursing Impairment Programs

Our nursing license defense attorneys represent nurses who receive a mandatory referral to an impairment program, as well as nurses who have recently been accused of having an impairment and are considering contacting IPN, HPRP or PRN. The most common incidents that trigger referrals to the impairment programs are drug diversion, DUI, and positive employment drug tests. If you are considering entering an impairment program, our attorneys can help you understand your options. If you are in an impairment program, our attorneys may be able to help modify your monitoring agreement.

Nursing License Suspension and Revocations

Nursing licenses can be suspended for many reasons, including drug and fraud convictions, positive drug tests, probation violations and failure to comply with the impairment program. Our lawyers have successfully helped hundreds of nurses restore their license following suspension. There is a very short period of time in which you can request a hearing to challenge the suspension, so if your nursing license has been suspended, contact our nursing license attorneys immediately.

Nurses Facing Criminal Convictions

Unlike most law firms who handle just nursing licensing matters, our firm has a team of criminal defense attorneys. We help nurses who are facing current criminal charges, and we represent nurses who face disciplinary action for failure to timely report a criminal conviction. We also assist nurses with a prior criminal conviction who need assistance in reporting the conviction to the state and/or board, and also help obtaining a nursing license with a criminal history. Our nursing license attorneys and criminal defense attorneys work together to handle criminal matters in a way that will help protect the nurse’s license after the criminal case is resolved.