Facts: RK hired firm after receiving a complaint from a former patient. The patient filed the complaint with the Board and alleged that RK incorrectly reported that she had HIV, forged records, did not report that she see her primary care physician (PCP), offered to take her to the doctor herself and did not report the secondary negative test results to the patient.
Outcome: Prior to retaining the firm, RK submitted a response to the allegations herself detailing what occurred. After reviewing the response BON offered her a public disciplinary order requiring her to complete several hours of CE. The order would be public on her license verification and reported to the NPDB.
The firm rejected the offer and requested the investigative file from BON. After review of the file, the firm drafted a supplemental response. In the response the firm argued that based on the language used by the testing facility, the results appeared on their face to have been verified and retested by the lab. Therefore, indicating to RK that retesting was not necessary. Further after review of RK’s employer’s policies, RK followed all policies and was not required to follow up with the patient after she received the negative results. She was only required to attempt to notify her of the negative results, which she did. We also provided expert opinions stating that RK acted as any other reasonable nurse would have in a similar situation. After review of our response, BON dismissed the complaint.
