Your physician assistant license may be revoked due to misconduct, malpractice, or criminal allegations. A medical license defense is key to protecting your career, starting with understanding these potential issues.
If you’re a Texas physician assistant, facing these challenges can be overwhelming. That’s why having a Texas physician assistant license defense lawyer on your side is imperative. We can help clarify your situation and represent you in any proceedings with the Texas Medical Board to protect your license, livelihood and professional reputation.
Reach out to a trusted defense lawyer who understands the importance of your profession and is committed to preserving your reputation and years of dedication. Don’t let allegations define your future.
Violations that Can Jeopardize Your Physician Assistant License
The Texas Medical Board oversees your licensing matters, and if a formal complaint is made, it can lead to various disciplinary actions. However, revoking your professional license is the most extreme.
A Texas medical license defense lawyer can help protect your rights if you’re facing allegations of severe violations that could jeopardize your license.
Criminal Conviction
If you’ve been convicted of a crime, your physician assistant license could be at risk. While minor traffic violations might not affect your license, a serious misdemeanor or felony often will.
As a licensed professional, certain white-collar and violent crimes commonly lead to license revocation, including:
- Embezzlement
- Illegal drug possession, distribution, or trafficking
- Sex crimes
- Murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide
- DWI
- Armed robbery
- Assault
- Bank Fraud
A Texas medical license defense attorney can guide you through these difficult situations, working to protect your career and reputation. Keeping a clean record is crucial for all licensed physician assistants.
Insurance Fraud
Insurance or Healthcare fraud involves deliberately falsifying information to obtain unauthorized benefits from an insurance company or a government benefits program such as Medicare or Medicaid. As healthcare professionals, it’s important to be aware of what constitutes fraud, such as:
- Billing the insurance company or government payor for services not rendered
- Falsifying a patient’s diagnosis to bill for unnecessary procedures
- Billing each stage of a procedure separately instead of as a whole
- Waiving patient copays and deductibles to overbill the insurance company or government payor
Innocent mistakes aren’t considered healthcare insurance fraud; the actions must be intentional. If you are facing allegations, a Texas medical license defense lawyer can help protect your rights and guide you through the legal process.
General Fraud
Fraud covers a wide range of illegal and dishonest behaviors, and it can put your medical license at serious risk. As a physician assistant, any intentional misrepresentation of the truth or hiding critical information may be viewed as criminal or unprofessional conduct.
Common examples of healthcare fraud include:
- Misrepresenting dates of service
- Accepting kickbacks or bribes
- Unnecessarily prescribing medication
- Billing for services not rendered
- Diverting legal prescriptions for illegal use
Recently, the Department of Justice brought criminal charges against 138 licensed medical professionals for a national fraud scheme worth $1.1 billion.
Illegal Drug Prescriptions
In Texas, physician assistants are authorized to prescribe medications under the supervision of a licensed physician, but misuse of this authority can risk your medical practice and license.
If you prescribe medication unlawfully, the Texas Medical Board can pursue the revocation of your physician license and you may also face consequences to your registration with the DEA. For example, it is typically prohibited for a physician assistant to:
- Prescribe medication to family members
- Overprescribe narcotics
- Self-prescribe medication
Physician assistants have a duty to use their prescription privileges appropriately. If you’re facing such allegations, consulting with medical board attorneys can help protect your career and ensure your rights are upheld.
Substance or Alcohol Abuse
Addiction is a problem facing millions of Americans. However, healthcare workers cannot perform their job while impaired. If a physician assistant is suffering from a drug or alcohol abuse problem, it can lead to serious and harmful errors and the Texas Medical Board may pursue disciplinary action against you, including temporary suspension of your license.
Professional Misconduct
Professional misconduct encompasses a range of behaviors that fall short of the standard of care expected within the medical community. Some of the most common reasons physician assistants are reported include:
- Mistreating and verbally abusing patients or coworkers at a facility
- Engaging in a sexual relationship with a patient
- Failing to adhere to the minimum standards required of physician assistants
Physician assistants are held to a high standard of ethical and professional behavior. Deviating from these standards can prompt the medical board to review your conduct and potentially revoke your physician assistant license.
Sexual Misconduct
As licensed professionals, physician assistants, like doctors, have a duty of care to their patients. The medical board views any sexual relationship between a healthcare provider and a patient as unethical and in many cases it can also be a felony criminal offense. Even a consensual relationship can:
- Exploit the patient
- Compromise the judgment of the physician assistant
- Undermine the patient’s goals
Given the vulnerable position of patients, avoiding any form of sexual contact is crucial. Allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct can lead to medical license suspension and put your career at serious risk.
Gross Incompetence and Malpractice
Physician assistants spend years training to serve in the healthcare industry, so it’s important to avoid malpractice and incompetent practice. Negligence, like prescribing medication a patient is allergic to or administering the wrong treatment, reflects a failure to provide proper care.
Ethical violations, including negligence or incompetence, are measured against what other professionals would do in similar situations. Allegations of malpractice can seriously impact your career.
A physician assistant license defense attorney from Bertolino LLP can defend your rights and support you through these challenging times, ensuring fair treatment in the process.
Can I Appeal If My Physician Assistant License Is Revoked?
Appealing the Texas Medical Board’s decision to revoke your license is a long and challenging process. However, you may have legal grounds to file an appeal and fight to keep your license.
What Grounds Can I Appeal on?
To seek judicial review of a final decision by the Texas Medical Board, you must have a valid and good-faith reason based on a legal argument. Feeling that the decision was unfair or too harsh is not enough, nor is simply claiming the allegations were false.
The judicial review process isn’t a secondary hearing but requires an experienced attorney to file a petition for judicial court review of the Board’s decision based on specific grounds, such as:
- Erroneous evidence: The evidence must be substantial and accurate to revoke your physician assistant license. If the board’s ruling clearly contradicts the evidence, you may appeal.
- Arbitrary ruling: If the medical board’s decision was influenced by factors outside the presented evidence, you may be able to pursue judicial review.
- Errors in the procedure: The disciplinary process must follow strict procedures. Procedural errors during medical board hearings or an improper investigation may be grounds for judicial review.
- Lack of substantial evidence: If the evidence fails to support the allegations, a petition for judicial review in the district court may be filed on your behalf.
At Bertolino LLP, an experienced attorney can guide you through disciplinary actions, hearings, and the judicial review process to protect your practice of medicine.
Can I Still Practice?
Seeking judicial review of the Texas Medical Board’s (TMB’s) decision to revoke your license can take time. The complex process may take months or years. In the meantime, your attorney may be able to help get your license reinstated during the judicial review process by obtaining an injunction while you continue the fight to maintain your livelihood.
How a Physician Assistant License Defense Lawyer in Texas Can Help
When a licensing issue threatens your career, having the right legal representation is key. A Texas physician assistant license defense lawyer from Bertolino LLP, with extensive experience, can help defend against allegations, file a petition for judicial review, and protect your professional standing.
If your license has been revoked or you’re facing disciplinary action, a professional license defense attorney at Bertolino LLP can provide guidance through the legal process and any hearings and work to restore your license.
Don’t leave your career to chance. Contact our client relations coordinators to schedule a consultation today.
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