| Advisory opinion request by Dr. Karen Lyon, Executive Director of the Louisiana State Board of Nursing, regarding whether there are any ethical dilemmas if a Louisiana State Board of Nursing (LSBN) board member is involved in vetting future candidates to serve as a board member of the LSBN through their position as a board member of the Louisiana State Nurses Association (LSNA) or the Louisiana Association of Nurse Anesthetists (LANA), Ltd. |
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LSBN is a regulatory agency charged with promoting, preserving, and protecting the public health, safety, and welfare by regulating nursing education and practice for all RNs and APRNs in the state. LSNA and LANA are professional trade associations, subsidiaries of the American Nurses Association and the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists which represent the concerns of their dues-paying members.
La. R.S. 37:914B(1) provides that the LSBN board shall be composed of eight registered nurses appointed by the governor from a list of names submitted by the LSNA, one certified registered nurse anesthetist appointed by the governor from a list of names submitted by the LANA, Ltd., and two representatives of the consumers of Louisiana from the state at-large appointed by the governor, neither of whom shall be a nurse. Each board member shall possess all of the applicable qualifications provided in R.S. 37:916. LSBN does not have any contracts with LSNA or LANA.
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La. R.S. 42:1102(15) provides that "participation" means any to take part in or to have or share responsibility for action of a governmental entity or a proceeding, personally, as a public servant of the governmental entity, through the approval, disapproval, decision, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or the failure to act or perform a duty. La. R.S. 42:1112B(3) provides that no public servant, except as provided in R.S. 42:1120, shall participate in a transaction involving the governmental entity in which, to his actual knowledge, any person of which he is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee has a substantial economic interest.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brett Robinson |
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