What Would a Nurse be Subject to if Recently Convicted of a Felony? | Nursing Convictions
So, what would a nurse be subject to if recently convicted of a felony?
A nurse licensed in Arizona with the Arizona Board of Nursing recently convicted of a felony would ultimately lose their license. State law requires that any nurse convicted of a felony have their license revoked.
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Scenario Where Nursing License Would not be Revoked
The only scenario where a nurse could keep their license would be if they were convicted of an undesignated felony and had it redesignated a misdemeanor before the Board revoked their license.
A past felony will not necessarily prevent a nurse from obtaining a license or a career in the medical field. However, the Board has a public policy on its website covering the details of under what circumstances a nurse with a case that resulted in a criminal conviction can get a license.
Arizona Nurse Felony Bar
Suppose a nurse discloses a criminal conviction on their application. The Board policy and state law hold Arizona nursing professionals are ineligible to apply for a license or certificate with the State Board of Nursing—until three years after the absolute discharge of the court sentence.
An absolute discharge from the sentence is the completion of any sentence, including imprisonment, probation, parole, community supervision, or any form of court supervision (no committee instructions are given).
Of note, if enough time has passed since the conviction, state law may allow a nurse to have the conviction reduced to a misdemeanor (due to an undesignated designation), dismissed, expunged, set aside, or something similar.
The bar of three years may not apply. In this instance, a nursing professional can contact an attorney to assist the applicant in obtaining these reductions if they haven’t already pursued these options in the state where their case occurred.
Disclosing Felony Criminal Court Convictions
When a professional applies to the Arizona State Board of Nursing, they must disclose a felony criminal court conviction (and other similar offenses) on their application. A nurse must self-report a felony no matter how much time or years have passed since the conviction.
After self-reporting occurs, the Board contacts the nurse and initiates an investigation utilizing the law of the AZ Nurse Practice Act.
The investigation helps to determine whether the nursing professional is a danger to the public, has any medical or mental health problems and whether the nurse has rehabilitated since the criminal incident occurred. Simply put, the Nursing Board wants to know whether the RN, LPN, or NP applicant can provide safe nursing care.
Legal Guidance After a Felony Conviction for Nurses
For direct legal help, contact us today or see our Nursing License Defense Attorney page.