Why Should I Have Nursing License Protection?
We figured you may have some questions, so we took the liberty of answering some of the most common reasons why you need nursing license protection (just as a little example of how proactive we are!)
Am I Really at Risk for Losing My License?
Yes, you are. Accusations are far more likely to occur than personal malpractice suits. In fact, we can’t find evidence of any claims paid out as a result of a personal malpractice lawsuit against a nurse last year, but there were over 9,000 complaints at the BRN, according to their Fall 2021 BRN Report.
Complaints lead to an internal investigation and formal BRN action. These will likely lead to temporary or permanent job loss, or worse -- license suspension or revocation. Investigations are a potentially crippling reality that all nurses face. We help you handle a BRN investigation every step of the way.
If BRN investigations are so prevalent, why don’t I hear about them?
In short: because license investigations are the great taboo in the nursing community, and no one talks about it.
This isn’t something you’re going to be chatting about around the water cooler, now is it? There is an embarrassing stigma associated with an accusation, even though the vast majority of the nurses under investigation are excellent nurses who made one not-so-excellent choice. We do talk about it- and you can read about it by going to the Blog.
I thought my Malpractice Insurance covered me for license defense.
Ah, the fine print. Your Malpractice Insurance will reimburse you on a case-by-case basis.
Malpractice Insurance (MPI) providers do not offer proactive legal counsel to keep you out of trouble. Once a complaint is made, and the accusation is filed, the Board of Registered Nursing comes after you. This is when you need an attorney. With MPI, you still have to track down an attorney, retain them, pay for them, win your case, and negotiate your probation, and then you submit all of those tens of thousands in bills to the MPI, and they decide if they will reimburse you. On a case-by-case basis, whatever that means. They also cap reimbursement for licensing issues at $10,000. Take a look at the chart below to see how far that will get you using a normal attorney rate of $275.00 per hour. Also, plan on the BRN tacking on another $10,000 or so in fees for themselves. (more about the BRN Shakedown here)
I thought I was covered by my employer’s insurance.
It is in your employer’s interest not to cover you for licensing issues: It’s one of the best disciplinary weapons in their arsenal.
Your facility or any co-worker or supervisor can report you to the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) anonymously, which is an extremely effective way of getting rid of you if they don’t want to go through the hassle of terminating you or disciplining you themselves. It happens all the time. Good nurses are thrown under the bus by their supervisors and usually become so mired by the stress of the BRN investigation; that they just quit… which is exactly the result the facility is hoping for.
How does RN Guardian work?
It is as simple and hassle-free as possible:
You sign up in 2 clicks, and $33.00 is automatically deducted from your card each month. There is no application process, so there is no way you will be denied membership as long as you have a California RN or LVN license. You are covered for everything that happens that could impact your license from that second forward, as long as you are a member. You never pay anything more than the membership fee and you get unlimited access to us.
What specific services are provided?
RN Guardian attorneys will:
- Counsel the RN regarding any potential threat to their license, including off-duty issues.
- Represent the Registered Nurse during the course of any BRN investigation.
- How to respond to a BRN investigation letter.
- Challenge BRN citations and fines informally and formally.
- Zealously advocate for Registered Nurses in the BRN administrative hearing before an Administrative Law Judge and the full Board of Registered Nursing.
- Negotiate the parameters of probation, based on the RN’s specific requirements.
- In legally viable cases, seek to overturn adverse administrative decisions in the California Superior Court through “administrative mandamus” proceedings.
RN Guardian will:
- Send you monthly newsletters with new laws, regulations and developments that could legally impact your career.
- Inform you of new posts to the blog and forum.
- Publish your thoughts.
- Give you a safe and anonymous place to talk about life as a nurse.
- Be here as a shoulder to lean on if anything happens to you.
Just click the contract and you can view it as a document or print it out and go over it with a fine-toothed comb….
I’m pretty sure I can handle the BRN myself… I have nothing to hide.
Nurses make this erroneous assumption frequently. You are an intelligent group of people, as are attorneys, but I guess you wouldn’t recommend we diagnose ourselves if we were ill, right? (read the horror stories here)
A BRN investigation is the real legal deal.
- The investigator is often a retired or ex-police or law enforcement officer well versed in interrogating someone.
- The department investigating and disciplining you is the Department of Justice and the Attorney General.
- The party making the decision at the hearing is an Administrative Law Judge, and it is a real court hearing.