Whenever someone filed a complaint against you involving negligence, your license could be put in danger if not defended by a nurse attorney. An RN from Beaumont, Texas is just one of the many examples of nurses who were accused of committing negligence.
At the time of the initial incident, an RN was employed as a Registered Nurse at a hospital in Beaumont, Texas, and had been in that position for one (1) year and ten (10) months.
On or about January 28, 2018, through January 29, 2018, while employed as a Registered Nurse, the RN failed to timely discontinue an infusion of peripheral parenteral nutrition (PPN) to the Patient when he reported pain with the infusion. In addition, the RN failed to timely notify the patient’s physician of his continuous left forearm pain after possible intravenous (IV) infiltration, with arm swelling and hand numbness, which continued for approximately four (4) hours after he reported increased pain and swelling. On the next shift, the patient was diagnosed with a thrombosed left brachial and distal axillary vein and required excisional debridement surgery to treat the infiltrated tissue. The RN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient from a delay in treatment for the pain experienced, and from a• delay in notifying the physician in order to institute timely medical interventions to stabilize the patient’s condition.
In response, the RN states that she informed the on-call nurse practitioner of the patient’s complaints of pain in the affected area around 8 pm, and again at midnight, and she administered a one-time dose of Fentanyl. The RN denies that she infused PPN into the patient’s left forearm IV site, but was using his right arm sites to infuse PPN and amiodarone. And also states that the left forearm catheter was unused during her shift, and she tried to get the patient to remove the left IV. The RN states that the patient also had fungemia which originated from the left upper extremity peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC), and no other IVs should have been started on that arm to begin with, which was beyond the RN’s control. She also added that she asked for help from the relief charge nurse, the shift charge nurse/assistant nurse manager, and another experienced staff nurse in response to the patient’s complaints of pain.
Because of this, the RN was summoned by the Texas Board of Nursing to hear her side of the story. However, without valid evidence and reasons as well as an experienced nurse attorney to hear her side of the story, the RN was disciplined.
The following incident and defense against the case caused the Texas Board of Nursing to place the RN and her license into disciplinary proceedings. She would have sought assistance from a good nurse attorney to provide clarifications for the case.
If you’ve ever done any errors or misdemeanors outside or during your shift as an RN or LVN, and you wish to preserve your career and your license, an experienced nurse attorney is what you need. Nurse Attorney Yong J. An, an experienced nurse attorney for various licensing cases for 14 years, can assist you by contacting him at (832) 428-5679.