Oklahoma Board of Nursing 2025-25A

Jenny Barnhouse, Executive Director
Oklahoma Board of Nursing
P.O. Box 52926
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73152

Re: Hays, Case No. 3.2023100229.25

Dear Executive Director Barnhouse:

This office has received your request for a written Attorney General Opinion regarding action that the Oklahoma Board of Nursing (“Board”) intends to take in the above-referenced case. Respondent holds a single-state licensed practical nurse license in Oklahoma. 

The Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act (“Act”) authorizes the Board to impose discipline when a nurse “[i]s guilty of unprofessional conduct[,]”^[1] “[f]ails to adequately care for patients or to conform to the minimum standards of acceptable nursing” in a way that “unnecessarily exposes a patient or other person to risk of harm[,]” or “[i]s guilty of any act that jeopardizes a patient’s life, health or safety.”^[2] 59 O.S.2021, § 567.8(B)(3), (7–8).

According to a Board complaint filed on October 1, 2024, the Respondent failed to provide the minimum standard of nursing care to a patient and the Respondent’s actions unnecessarily exposed that patient to harm and jeopardized the patient’s life. Respondent, while working as a staff nurse at a prison, was responsible for providing medical care to the patient on four (4) of the five (5) separate occasions over the course of seven (7) days from May 22, 2018 – May 29, 2018, that patient sought medical treatment for severe abdominal pain. Most significantly, on the morning of May 29, 2018, the Respondent failed to provide a wheelchair for the patient to be transported to the medical clinic for evaluation by a physician while he was complaining of shortness of breath and severe abdominal pain. Despite the patient’s medical history, the Respondent completed a Waiver of Treatment/Evaluation form on behalf of the patient. The Waiver of Treatment/Evaluation form provided the reason for refusal: “I don’t want to walk” and was signed by the patient. Later that same day, the patient died from acute peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix, as confirmed by the Chief Medical Examiner’s report.

Additionally, on July 30, 2019, the Respondent was named as a defendant in the First Amended Complaint and Jury Demand in court case number 19-CV-00470, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The complaint alleged the Respondent’s failure to properly examine the patient, failure to send the patient for further testing, and failure to intervene in the denial of necessary medical care. The case settled, and the court dismissed the case with prejudice on July 17, 2023, following the settlement.

During a June 2024 telephonic investigative conference, the Respondent admitted to the Board staff that she could have been a better advocate for the patient by taking a wheelchair to the patient on May 29, 2018. On November 13, 2024, Respondent, with counsel, appeared before the Board and verbally requested a continuance of the Noticed Hearing in order to provide video evidence. The Board staff’s legal counsel did not object to the request. However, due to the seriousness of the accusations in the complaint, until the merits could be heard by the Board at a hearing, the Board placed Respondent’s single-state licensed practical nurse license on probation and Respondent was placed under supervised practice. This measure was suggested to ensure continued supervision and mitigate the risk of further violations while the hearing was pending.

At the hearing held March 25, 2025, the Board ordered that Respondent’s single-state licensed practical nurse license remain on probation/supervised practice and is disciplined as follows: Respondent shall, within ninety (90) days before or after the receipt of the Board’s Order, successfully complete Board approved courses in Nursing Jurisprudence, Nursing Documentation, Critical thinking, to include moral reasoning, and Physical Assessment, and each course shall meet the requirements outlined by the Board in its Order; Respondent’s single-state licensed practical nurse license shall be placed on probation for employment as a licensed practical nurse for 720 cumulative worked hours to be completed in one (1) year; during this probationary employment period, Respondent shall be employed in a health care agency under the supervision of not more than two (2) registered nurses who agree to comply with the Guidelines for Supervised Practice; Respondent shall comply with the Oklahoma Board of Nursing Staff/Board Conferences Guidelines; a copy of the Board’s Order and all attachments and amendments shall be furnished by Respondent to each prospective employer and to supervising registered nurse(s) while Respondent’s single-state licensed practical nurse license is on probation; the terms of the Board’s Order shall apply to the practice of nursing of any kind, including practice while enrolled in a nursing education program.  

Further, Respondent shall notify the Board office within five (5) working days of any change of address, name or phone number; Respondent shall comply in all respects with the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act, 59 O.S. §§ 567.1, et seq., the Rules of the Board found in the Oklahoma Administrative Code Title 485 Chapters 1 and 10, and Guidelines related to nursing education, licensure, and practice in the Board’s Order. Prior to Respondent’s successful completion of the requirements in the Order, any violations of the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act by Respondent, except as set forth in the Order, may require Respondent’s appearance before the Board to show cause why Respondent’s single-state license should not be revoked or other such action taken as the Board deems necessary and proper. 

Any failure of Respondent to comply with submission of the written documentation by the due date, including but not limited to proof of successful completion of the required education courses, will result in a three (3) month suspension of license(s). If Respondent’s license is suspended, prior to reinstatement of license, all Board ordered classes must be successfully completed and payment of an administrative penalty must be paid prior to reinstatement of license. At the completion of the three-month suspension, any application for reinstatement may be submitted for processing by Board staff for approval in accordance with the agency approval process or for referral to the Board. If probation and/or supervised practice were ordered by the Board, then the probation and/or supervised practice will be extended at the time of reinstatement until such time as the Board’s order is fully completed. An administrative penalty of $500.00 for each violation of Respondent’s Board Order shall be paid only by certified check and/or money order prior to reinstatement pursuant to statute, 59 O.S.2021, § 567.8(J)(1) and (2), and Oklahoma Administrative Code 485.10-11-2(c). Any failure to comply with submission of documentation by third parties, including late reports, or unsatisfactory reports, and/or other violations of the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act by Respondent, will require Respondent's appearance before the Informal Disposition Panel of the Board and/or the Board to show cause why Respondent’s single-state license should not be revoked or such other action taken as the Board deems necessary and proper.  

Upon successful completion of all the terms of the Board’s Order, all encumbrances shall be removed from Respondent’s single-state licensed practical nurse license. The Board’s Order constitutes disciplinary action by the Board and may be used in any subsequent hearings by the Board.  

It is, therefore, the official opinion of the Attorney General that the Oklahoma Board of Nursing has adequate support for the conclusion that this action is necessary to ensure public health, safety, and welfare by ensuring that nurses meet the minimum standards of professional conduct.

Cheryl Dixon
Deputy General Counsel