STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

In re: The revocation of the )

License of Helen Howard Riggin, ) CASE NO. 76-1550 R.N., License No. RN80979-2 )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings, by its duly designated Hearing Officer, K. N. Ayers, held a public hearing in the above styled case on December 15, 1976 at Ft. Myers, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Julius Finegold, Esquire

State Baord of 1130 American Heritage Life Building Nursing Jacksonville, Florida 32202

For Respondent: Frank C. Alderman III, Esquire

Helen Riggin First National Bank Building, Suite 300 Post Office Drawer 249

Ft. Myers, Florida 33902 RECOMMENDED ORDER

By Administrative Complaint filed August 3, 1976, the Florida State Board of Nursing (Petitioner or Board) seeks to revoke the license of Helen Howard Riggin and licensee's right to practice thereunder. As grounds therefor it is alleged that on or about December 6, 1975 licensee's apartment was searched by the Lee County Sheriff's Department and licensee was found to be in possession of marijuana and assorted prescription drugs, including Codine, without proper authorization. It is further alleged that Respondent admitted to the Sheriff's deputies that some of the prescription drugs in her possession came from Lee County Memorial Hospital where she was employed as a Registered Nurse and that some of the drugs had been patients' prescriptions which she had converted to her own use.

At the beginning of the hearing Respondent, through her attorney, stated that she desired to enter a plea of guilty to all charges to as to avoid the necessity of the Board having to call witnesses to prove the facts alleged.

After being fully advised of the effects of her plea, including her right to require the Board to prove all acts alleged, and that by her plea of guilty ,she admitted all facts well pleaded, Respondent persisted in her plea. Thereafter six witnesses, including Respondent, testified on behalf of the Respondent.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On December 6, 1975 deputies from the Lee County Sheriff's Department entered the apartment of Helen Riggin and found marijuana and prescription drugs not issued to Respondent. Respondent admitted to the deputies that the drugs were in her possession without authority and that some of them had been prescribed for patients but converted by her for her own use.

2. Miss Riggin immediately called the hospital to advise the Assistant Vice President of Nursing that she had been arrested by the Sheriff's Department. Riggin was advised not to come to work over the weekend, but to report to the Vice President of Nursing on Monday morning.

   
   

3. At the Monday, December 8, 1975 meeting at the hospital Miss Riggin advised the Vice President of Nursing of the facts and circumstances surrounding her arrest the previous Saturday, and of the charges preferred against her. She was then suspended from further duty at Lee County Memorial Hospital. During the next three and one half to four months Miss Riggin worked as a waitress in Ft. Myers.

   
   

4. Prior to the time Riggin's trial in the courts of Lee County was to be heard a Motion to Suppress the Evidence Seized was granted by the Circuit Court on the ground that the search was illegal and a violation of Miss Riggin's constitutional rights. Thereafter the charges against Miss Riggin were dropped by the State Attorney's office. Immediately thereafter, on March 31, 1976, Miss Riggin was re-employed by the Lee County Memorial Hospital with full knowledge of the circumstances surrounding her encounter with the Lee County Sheriff's Department and the State Attorney's Office.

   
   

5. The Vice President of Nursing and the Assistant Vice President of Nursing at Lee County Memorial Hospital each have been R.N.'s more than 30 years. Both were fully aware of the acts committed by Respondent at the time she was rehired by the hospital and both recommended that Miss Riggin be permitted to continue to work as a R.N. at the hospital.

   
   

6. In addition to the two senior nurses at Lee County Memorial Hospital, supervisors and coworkers of Miss Riggin also recommended that she be permitted to continue as a R.N. at the hospital.

   
   

7. Miss Riggin is a conscientious, capable, dedicated and serious young lady who fully realizes the magnitude of the offenses of which she has been charged. She enjoys the profession of nursing and is rated by her superiors and coworkers as a very capable young nurse they would be pleased to have work with them. At the time she took the controlled substances or drugs from the hospital she was attempting to treat herself with the medication. She now fully realizes the error of judgment she exercised in trying to medicate herself.

   
   

8. The marijuana seized in her apartment had been in her possession for a long period of time and none had ever been used by Respondent. Miss Riggin never gave any of the medication found in her possession to anyone else.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

9. Section 464.21(1) F.S. provides in part that the Board shall have the power to discipline a licensee who has been found guilty by the Board of:

   
   

   "(b) Unprofessional conduct, which shall in- clude any departure from, or the failure to conform to, the minimal standards of accepta- ble and prevailing nursing practice, in which proceeding actual injury need not be esta- blished.

   (d) Engaging in the possession, sale or distribution of controlled substances as set forth in Chapter 893 [for any other than legitimate purposes)."

   
   

10. By her plea of guilty Respondent has admitted all facts well pleaded. The plea of guilty differs in purpose and effect from a mere admission or an extrajudicial confession; it is itself a conviction; and like a verdict of a jury, it is conclusive. Tolar v. State, 196 So.2d 1 (Fla. App. 1967).

    
    

11. Even though a plea of guilty is a confession of guilt of the highest order and authorizes the imposition of the sentence as upon a verdict of guilty, such a plea admits only the acts charged, and does not preclude the defendant from claiming that the acts charged do not constitute a crime. 9 Fla. Jur. Crim. Law. Section 358.

    
    

12. Unprofessional conduct which is charged in the instant case is that conduct defined by 464.21(1)(b) F.S. above quoted. Taking drugs prescribed for the patients under the nurses' care is a departure from the minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing nursing practice. Accordingly, Respondent is hereby found guilty as alleged.

    
    

13. Her plea of guilty standing alone is sufficient to support a finding that despondent unlawfully possessed drugs controlled by Chapter 893 F.S.

    
    

14. Here we do not have an unrepentant transgressor. The evidence required to prove her guilt of the offenses of which she was charged both in the criminal courts and in this administrative proceeding was ruled inadmissible by the Circuit Court. Only by her plea could she be found guilty of the Administrative Complaint filed herein. Miss Riggin has been totally honest with the hospital in which she worked and with the nursing profession subsequent to the time her apartment was unlawfully entered by law enforcement officers. Her supervisors, who have had a better opportunity to observe her and determine whether or not a suspension of her license is appropriate in this case, have unanimously expressed faith in Miss Riggin's loyalty and dedication to her chosen profession and to her unlikely recidivism in the future.

    
    

15. This evidence is entitled to great weight in determining an appropriate punishment for the offenses of which Respondent has pleaded guilty. Furthermore, the plea of guilty is a significant step in rehabilitation.

    
    

16. From the foregoing it is concluded that Helen Howard Riggin is guilty as alleged. It is further concluded that neither the nursing profession nor Miss Riggin can further benefit by depriving Respondent of her livelihood as a Registered Nurse. It is therefore,

RECOMMENDED that the license of Helen Howard Riggin be suspended for a period of ninety (90) days. It is further

RECOMMENDED that the suspension be stayed for a period of six (6) months, at the expiration of which unless sooner revoked for good cause shown, the suspension be set aside and Helen Howard Riggin be restored to good standing by the Florida State Board of Nursing.

DONE and ENTERED this 30th day of December, 1976, in Tallahassee, Florida.

K. N. AYERS Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings Room 530, Carlton Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

COPIES FURNISHED:

Frank C. Alderman III, Esquire

Suite 300, First National Bank Bldg. Post Office Drawer 249

Fort Myers, Florida 33902

Julius Finegold, Esquire

1130 American Heritage Life Building Jacksonville, Florida 32202

Docket for Case No: 76-001550

Orders for Case No: 76-001550