Lee v. Board of Registered Nursing
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Richman, J.
*795 Opinion
Sections 820 and 821 of the Business and Professions Code 1 authorize revoking of the license of a health care professional for failure to comply with an order requiring a mental fitness examination. Here, following a hearing before an administrative law judge, the Board of Registered Nursing (Board) revoked the registered nurse license of Ophelia Lee after she refused to submit to such an examination. The trial court denied Lee’s petition for a writ of administrative mandate seeking to overturn the revocation. Lee appeals that denial. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
Lee has been a registered nurse since 2000. In 2007, her employer, Eden Medical Center, began to have doubts about Lee’s mental condition to continue working in the surgical unit. During that year, Lee was examined by five mental health professionals. Two, Drs. Zhalkovsky and Kirz, diagnosed her as suffering from delusions that would impair her ability to function as a nurse. Three others, Drs. Webber, Ho, and Spivey, found no such impairment.
On April 22, 2009, the Board ordered Lee to submit to an examination by a psychologist or psychiatrist selected by the Board no later than May 22. Because Lee did not…