Hundreds of graduates who attended an online nursing college will have to continue to wait to find out if theyll be able to work in California and may need to repeat semesters of school after a judge ruled against their college Friday.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto denied Nightingale College’s request for a preliminary injunction in its ongoing legal battle with the California Board of Registered Nursing.
In his 12-page ruling, which became final late Friday, Acquisto found Nightingale College was unlikely to succeed on its legal claims.
He agreed with the nursing board’s interpretation of state law requiring out-of-state nursing graduates to meet the same minimum clinical training requirements as California graduates, an interpretation he said “seems to be the only reasonable one.”
At the hearing, Nightingale College argued the board’s requirement students complete 500 hours of direct patient care training doesnt apply to the school. An attorney for the college argued the board cant regulate out-of-state schools.
An attorney for the state said hundreds of applicants are impacted by the dispute and argued there could be “substantial harm” to the public if graduates were allowed to get licensed without completing required clinical hours in areas such as obstetrics or pediatrics.
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Nightingale College told the court theres no evidence a graduate from the school, which is registered in Utah, has ever provided anything but the highest quality of medical care.
The school believes the boards actions are unfair and said nearly 2,000 graduates from the online school have previously been licensed in California without issue.
In August, Team 10 reported hundreds of grads from the college might have to go back to school for a semester or longer as the state board worked to determine if Nightingale met Californias licensure requirements.
After our story aired, San Diego resident Rachel Baxter told us she received death threats for speaking to Team 10 about her experience with Nightingale College and sharing her frustration with not being able to get her nursing license.
The board then issued a warning to anyone who was sending death threats to graduates and said it could be cause for denying a license. Nightingale told Team 10 the threats were unacceptable at every level.
In his written decision, Acquisto acknowledged the impact on Nightingale graduates who have been unable to obtain nursing licenses and jobs.
The court finds that the interim harm to the public from the requested preliminary injunction being granted would be substantially greater than the interim harm to the interests represented by Nightingale from the requested preliminary injunction being denied. This factor weighs heavily against issuance of the requested preliminary injunction, he said.
Nightingale College is suing the board and wanted the court to issue a preliminary injunction so its graduates could apply for their licenses and enter the workforce while the lawsuit makes its way through the courts.
The judge issued his decision Friday shortly after hearing more than an hour of arguments from both sides.
On Nightingale’s website Friday night, the school said it was disappointed.
“However, this news will not end our support for you. We will continue with our legal actions and will continue working to provide academic options for graduates and learners. We are committed to seeing this through together,” the website said.
The lawsuit remains ongoing and the next hearing is scheduled to take place in February, where the court will consider the board’s request to dismiss the case.