I am going thru a statewide, routine criminal background check for healthcare professionals, and one question is driving me crazy, because I did get a DWI 15 years ago. Here 'tis : "Have you ever been arrested/convicted of a crime/offense(minor traffic offenses-speeding/parking- need not be listed) EVERY such conviction must be listed, with documentation from the county clerk"
In my state DWI is a motor vehicle offense, not a criminal one. The county clerk says records aren't kept that long (tho it is on my driving record for life). One lawyer says they are separate and I don't have to answer "yes".
I do feel like a criminal for being an alcoholic; I also don't want to unneccessarily draw attention to this long ago event.
Other struggles that I have subsequently had with being an alcoholic are private, and I work on them daily.
Does anyone have any thoughts? Not to make light, but I feel like Arlo Guthrie being asked "kid, have you every been arrested...?"
I don't post often, but I'm here every day.....thanks BG
Hmmmmmm..... it reads " MINOR traffic offenses - speeding/ parking" - a DWI does not fall in either of these catagories. In my state DWI is not traffic related, it is a criminal offense & the number of DWI's accumulated determine misdemenor or felony.
Go to the library and look it up if you don't "trust" what the lawyer told you....
Best of luck.
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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain.
I've answered NO to those questions. Let them find out on their own. I figured if the ask me about it, I'd plead ignorance to DUI being a serious crime and that it was so long ago blah blah blah.
Also I think that your driving record is only 5 or 7 years long, for them to view. So I wouldn't worry. I view it as a 9th step thing "except where it may harm others" others being me.
Thanks for your thoughts- I was really freaking out about this because it effects my livelihood- AND because the keynote to my sobriety is honesty...and I don't want to jeopardize that either.
I feel a bit better with the help of your wisdom, Doll and Dean...still not sure what I'm going to do, but I still have time to decide.
No matter if you are a doctor or a nurse, or some kind of technician, you will find that many of the above professionals have had a DUI and maintained their practicing licenses. Many more have had a DUI than one might think. I know that in my state the Board of Nursing values honesty above all, and also looks at how LONG it has been since the infraction. I don't know what state you live in, but I do know that if nurses were banned for having gotten a DUI, half the nurses out there would be unemployed!! Nursing and the medical field is fraught with alcohol and drug abuse. I would say that since your DUI was not a crime committed in the course of practice (like stealing patient meds, being caught with non-prescribed meds, medicare fraud etc... SOME of these ALSO do not bar nurses from working, although they may have been suspended for a time!) , you would have nothing to worry about.
Hope this helps...
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~Your Higher Power has not given you a longing to do that which you have no ability to do.
Hey beachie! Good to see you posting! I agree, its not a criminal offense. Let them find out for their own and then disclose the info.... Sounds good to me!
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"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. "
thanks guys- I think that is the conclusion I'm coming to as well... and if there is a gratitude lesson here... it is to stay humble and thank the powers that be that I am sober. As well as a big reminder of how awful it feels to be chased and haunted by the problems alcohol has caused in my life. NO MORE! BG
