Medical License Defense in New York

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If you practice medicine in New York and need a medical license, then your professional life and future are always only a license suspension or revocation away from ruin. Unfortunately, actions against your professional license can happen surprisingly often. They can even happen away from your medical practice, like a conviction for driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI).

Given the threat of seriousness to your livelihood, hiring a medical license defense lawyer to protect yourself can be an excellent investment. The medical license defense attorneys at the law firm of Oberheiden P.C. have represented numerous licensed medical professionals across the country, helping them protect their reputation and professional future.

What Can Lead to Action Against a Medical License?

Your medical license can be scrutinized, investigated, or attacked in various ways by the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) and the Office of Professional Discipline (OPD). Only some of them are the result of allegedly criminal activity.

Medical misconduct may be the most common way to lose a medical license. The New York Medical Board retains the authority to revoke or suspend medical licensure if licensed professionals engage in a variety of intentional or seriously negligent conduct, such as:

• Severe or repeated instances of medical malpractice
• Healthcare fraud
• Breaching the standard of care
• Violating a term of probation imposed by the Medical Board
• Not completing continuing medical education course requirements
• Workplace misconduct
• Drug or alcohol impairment while on the job

When you receive your medical license in New York, you attest that you have not committed a criminal offense or, if you have, that you have disclosed it, and the Board has determined that it is not worthy of depriving you of a career in the medical field. However, if you commit a crime after getting your medical license in New York, that criminal offense can affect your license. Some common criminal charges and convictions that can threaten a physician’s medical license include:

• Drug use or possession, particularly if it occurred on the job
• DUI or DWI
• Domestic violence
• Fraud
• Drug diversion

Drug diversion has become a particular focus for law enforcement, largely in response to the opioid epidemic. Licensed medical professionals can lose their license if they:

• Write prescriptions that they know are not medically necessary
• Steal medications
• Write prescriptions for their own profit or someone else’s profit

They can also face repercussions for less clear examples of drug diversion, such as:

• Improperly disposing of controlled substances and prescription drugs
• Confusing patient files
• Making errors when using the Pyxis system

While relatively minor first-time mistakes may be unlikely to result in a license suspension, the board may require you to defend yourself at a medical board hearing if you make a serious mistake or regularly make mistakes in your practice.

Put our highly experienced team on your side

Dr. Nick Oberheiden

Founder

Attorney-at-Law

Lynette S. Byrd

Former DOJ Trial Attorney

Partner

Brian J. Kuester

Former U.S. Attorney

Hon. Kevin McCarthy

55th Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives (ret.)

Government Consultant

Mike Pompeo

Of Counsel

Former U.S. Secretary of State

John W. Sellers

Former Senior DOJ Trial Attorney

Linda Julin McNamara

Federal Appeals Attorney

Nicholas B. Johnson

Former Prosecutor

Roger Bach

Former Special Agent (DOJ)

Chris J. Quick

Former Special Agent (FBI & IRS-CI)

Michael S. Koslow

Former Supervisory Special Agent (DOD-OIG)

Ray Yuen

Former Supervisory Special Agent (FBI)

How These Cases Tend to Start

Sometimes, law enforcement or medical regulators that govern medical licenses notice problematic signs and investigate more fully to discover additional evidence of misconduct or worrisome negligence. In other cases, you may only become the target of an investigation because a different investigation or an audit uncovers potential issues in your practice.

Examples of the first include when the state Medical Board sees that you have been sued for medical malpractice or when coworkers file a complaint about your drug or alcohol use. This can quickly trigger an investigation into your workplace conduct. If the investigation determines that you may have become a liability to the medical profession, you could face a license suspension or revocation hearing.

The second example is when regulators or law enforcement have no inkling of your misconduct until they stumble on it through an independent investigation or audit. This is particularly common in healthcare fraud cases. Audits often – in fact, are designed to – detect the fraud, waste, and abuse of healthcare funding. If you are deliberately defrauding a public or private insurance program or routinely making mistakes in the billing process, and you or your employer gets audited, you will likely face the consequences and potential action against your medical license, such as a medical license suspension.

Having effective medical board defense lawyers on hand for the subsequent process is essential. Oberheiden P.C.’s experienced attorneys can provide effective legal defense against disciplinary proceedings by the New York State Department of Health for professional misconduct by healthcare professionals.

Struggling to Get a Medical License

Some medical students, hopeful medical practitioners, and other medical professionals have issues obtaining a medical license to practice in New York. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including:

• Administrative issues are delaying the process
• There are immigration complications
• Past professional disciplinary sanctions or disciplinary action
• A prior criminal conviction
• Other past disciplinary issues, like a juvenile record

Our New York medical license defense attorneys at Oberheiden P.C. can help in many of these situations as well. You can often expedite the process or take a proactive stance regarding your past misconduct to show that you have changed and deserve to become a medical professional.

Self-Reporting Out-of-State Misconduct in New York

Another common issue in medical license defense is when something happens to you outside of New York that could implicate your license to practice medicine. For example, you could visit someone out of state and get charged with DUI or some other low-level offense, or go on vacation abroad and do something that could violate your code of ethics.

This can create a dilemma: Do you self-report the incident?

Further, if you report it, how much do you disclose?

These can be extremely difficult questions for medical professionals or mental health professionals who have never been in this position. Your medical license could hang in the balance. Self-reporting the incident and revealing too much information about what happened could expose you to more sanctions than otherwise. Not reporting the incident, however, can lead to additional penalties if regulators and medical license attorneys discover the out-of-state misconduct. They would accuse you of covering it up or, at the very least, violating your obligation to report it.

Oberheiden P.C.: Effective Medical License Defense Attorney in New York

When medical professionals are facing allegations that could jeopardize their license, their professional reputation is often at risk long before a final decision is made. Investigations involving professional misconduct allegations, including issues such as billing fraud, can escalate quickly and lead to serious consequences if not handled properly. In many cases, early legal representation can make the difference between resolving concerns quietly and confronting disciplinary action that threatens a physician’s future.

Working with experienced counsel allows practitioners to navigate the process in a protected and informed manner. A lawyer can help develop a strategic response, guide you through required disclosures, and pursue the best possible outcome while safeguarding your standing in the medical community. If you have questions about your situation, you can request a confidential consultation to understand the risks, your rights, and the steps needed to protect your license.

If you are a healthcare provider and your medical license is in peril, you need a legal team of medical license defense attorneys having extensive experience on your side. Contact the law firm of Oberheiden P.C. by calling our intake hotline at (888) 680-1745 or by contacting us online. We proceed with your best interest and represent medical professionals in New York City, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Long Island, Buffalo, and other cities across New York to help in their medical license revocation defense.

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