Board of Nursing v. Long-Romero, 24CA0427

Shari L. Long-Romero is a registered certified nurse midwife who received disciplinary action by the Colorado State Board of Nursing after two infant deaths under her care.
The Board charged Romero with violating various provisions of the Nurse and Nurse Aide Practice Act, including failing to meet patient safety standards and recordkeeping requirements.
Initially, an administrative law judge found Romero violated the Act and imposed significant restrictions on her license, which the Board affirmed.
On her first appeal, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed portions of the Board’s decision (related to lack of notice and procedural issues) but upheld findings that she had violated standards of care and patient safety.
On remand, Romero argued that a new hearing before the administrative law judge was required, but the Board instead struck the reversed violations and reimposed the original sanctions for the affirmed violations.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Board violated the appellate remand	Board had to hold new hearing	Remand was general, hearing not required	Board acted within discretion; no new hearing required
Whether due process required a new hearing	Needed to remedy violations	Due process cured by reversing erroneous findings	No further remedy needed; reversing findings sufficient
Appropriateness of sanctions without a new hearing	Sanctions need new proceedings	Allowed to reimpose original sanctions	Sanctions were proper; Board within authority
Scope of Board’s discretion on remand	Limited by appellate ruling	Board retains general discretion on general remand	Board had broad discretion on remand

Musgrave v. Indus. Claim Appeals Off., 762 P.2d 686 (Colo. App. 1988) (distinguishes specific from general remands and agency discretion)
Colo. State Bd. of Med. Exam’rs v. Ogin, 56 P.3d 1233 (Colo. App. 2002) (agency discretion in imposing sanctions and structure of Board panels)
Colo. Real Est. Comm’n v. Hanegan, 947 P.2d 933 (Colo. 1997) (scope of judicial review over agency-imposed sanctions)