On what grounds can the Board of Nursing attempt to deny, revoke, or suspend a nurse’s license?

Tennessee law provides numerous enumerated or listed grounds for which the Board can deny, revoke, or suspend a nurse’s license. The included grounds include when a licensed nurse:

“Is guilty of fraud or deceit in procuring or attempting to procure a license to practice nursing;

Is guilty of a crime;

Is unfit or incompetent by reason of negligence, habits or other cause;

Is addicted to alcohol or drugs to the degree of interfering with nursing duties;

Is mentally incompetent;

Is guilty of unprofessional conduct; or

Has violated or attempted to violate, directly or indirectly, or assisted in or abetted the violation of or conspired to violate any provision of this chapter or any lawful order of the board issued pursuant thereto.”

Many of these listed statutory grounds are quite broad. For example, one of the listed grounds is “unprofessional conduct.” Another states that a nurse is “guilty of a crime.” There can be an alarming amount of subjectivity as to what constitutes unprofessional conduct. Furthermore, some alleged “crimes” may be completed unrelated to the actual practice of nursing.

Tennessee Nursing Laws Healthcare Attorney

For this reason, a nurse facing the possible loss of her license should make sure to contact an attorney well-versed in this area of law. Lebanon-based attorney Eric Phillips not only is an attorney who has handled many nurse licensure matters, but he also was a nurse for many years. He is exactly the type of attorney who is expertly qualified to represent nurses in nurse licensing cases.