Tennessee Department of Health, Et Al. v. Christina K. Collins, RN, APRN

This appeal involves a licensure disciplinary action.  The Tennessee Board of Nursing charged an advanced practice registered nurse with overprescribing controlled substances.  After a contested case hearing, the Board found the nurse practitioner guilty of violations of Tennessee’s nursing rules.  However, during the deliberations of the Board, one member conducted her own research.  She observed that her findings had “changed her mind” and shared the information with the other panel members.  The Board subsequently imposed a much-reduced sanction than what was sought by the State.  After the administrative law judge twice denied the State’s motions for mistrial, the parties filed appeals with the chancery court.  Upon review, the trial court determined that the procedural errors in the record, including the introduction of extrinsic prejudicial information, constituted an abuse of discretion that affected the merits of the Board’s decision.  The court reversed and remanded the matter for a new contested case hearing to be heard before and deliberated by a different Board panel.  We affirm.