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Former Knoxville nurse gives up license after state investigation

The Tennessee Board of Nursing investigated Kelsey D. Lenihan, records show.

A former nurse at a Knoxville clinic has agreed to give up her license and multi-state privileges after a state investigation found she'd forged a doctor's name to get a prescription and treated some patients without a license, records show.

The Tennessee Board of Nursing investigated Kelsey D. Lenihan, records show. She has not been charged with a crime, records show.

Their investigation found that Lenihan lacked an active registered nurse license from September 2016 through April 15, 2020. She did have an advanced practice registered nurse certificate.

During the period, she still treated patients, documents state.

Also, the investigation found, she worked at the Hope Neurology Clinic in Knoxville in 2019 as an advance practice registered nurse.

As part of her job there, she visited patients' homes, records state.

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"Hope management received several reports that controlled substance medications had gone missing from patient homes after (Lenihan) completed a home visit," records state.

According to a Board of Nursing consent order, Lenihan forged a doctor's signature for prescriptions for controlled substances for a patient identified only as "L.B."

Lenihan at the time was no longer legally allowed to prescribe such medication, and she'd given up her Drug Enforcement Administration registration in April 2019, according to records.

The clinic fired her in September 2019 after learning of the forgeries, documents state.

The board approved the resolution of the case in May 2020. As part of the resolution, she must pay the costs of the investigation, no more than $3,000.

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