State board fines, disciplines nurses

The state Board of Examiners for Nursing on Wednesday disciplined three nurses, including issuing a total of $1,500 in fines and placing two nurses’ licenses on probation.

The advanced practical registered nurse license of Jane M. Buckley, of Wallingford, was placed on probation for a year and she was fined $500 by the board for inappropriately prescribing controlled substances from January-July 2018 to a patient despite evidence of addiction, according to her signed consent order.

Buckley also failed to provide requested medical records in a timely manner, failed to maintain adequate treatment documents, and failed to appropriately assess, manage and/or treat addiction and/or mental health issues, according to the consent order.

Buckley’s license had previously been reprimanded and placed on probation in June 2018 for prescribing a controlled substance to a family member without adequate treatment records in 2015 and 2016, according to the consent order. Buckley successfully completed that probation on Dec. 11, 2018.

Under the terms of her current probation, Buckley’s patient records must be randomly reviewed monthly by a doctor or another APRN approved by the state Department of Public Health.

The board issued a $1,000 fine and reprimanded and placed on probation the licensed practical nurse license of Buenna R. Neupaver of Bristol for engaging in a relationship with a client who was receiving treatment at the Hartford Dispensary Bristol Clinic in Bristol, where Neupaver worked. According to her signed consent order, Neupaver violated the standard of care when she was in the relationship, from December 2017 to July 2018. Neupaver’s license was placed on probation until she completes coursework on professional boundaries, profession ethics and social media in nursing, the board ruled.

The board reprimanded the registered nurse license of Christopher A. Vallas of Clinton after he made an inappropriate comment to a visitor of a patient at Middlesex Health Shoreline Medical Center in Westbrook, where he worked, on Jan. 11, 2017.

Vallas has since completed coursework on professional communication, ethics and professional boundaries, according to his signed consent order.