.

[masterchiefk57]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

Call a lawyer who specializes in dealing with the medical board in the state you are doing residency.

Do this tomorrow.

Once you have done this come back next week and tell us more about these terrorist threats, not so we can give you advice (you will have a lawyer for that) but so we can be entertained.

 

[DrMetal]

So long story short, I will be starting my intern year soon and need advice on my criminal history. I was arrested once in high school for a misdemeanor charge of battery that ultimately was dismissed, and arrested once more when I was 20 following a druken incidnet in which I was charged with underage possesion, disordley conduct, obstruction of justice (classified as misdemonors) and terroristics threats (classified as a felony). The felony was not prosecuted, and the miseemonors were discharged under my states special provisons following a period a probabtion, alcohol cessation, and community service.

Fast forward 8 years, I am soon to be graduating medical school and am submitting my application for my temopary medical license. The application states:

"Have you ever entered a plea bargain, been arrested, indicted or convicted for violating any state or federal law including DUI (excluding minor traffic violations)? As used in this question, the term "conviction" shall include a finding or verdict of guilt, or a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere in a criminal proceeding, regardless of whether the adjudication of guilt or sentence is withheld or not entered."

As well as:

"you are required to furnish complete details, including date, place, reason and disposition of the matter. This includes items such as a statement from the treating physician, court documents, etc."

To me, this sounds like I should disclose all arrest and their correpsonding disposition, inclduing the misdemonors that were ultimaltely discharged. My question is, would these misdemonors (or even arrests) prevent me from becoming licensed, what type of details/explanation should I include in my application, and should I reach out to my program and/or a lawyer on how to best move forward? I already spoke with the attorney that represented in these cases, but he was little to no help and certainly does not specialize in professional licensing cases.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Call the state medical board and ask if they really mean 'ever' , or if there's a more recent time period they're asking of? (Last 5 years, last 10 years? Etc)

In the end, honest is probably the best policy. So answer Yes and explain the situation.

It may not be a bad idea to get advice from a medical lawyer who's versed in licensing issues.

 

[masterchiefk57]

Thanks, @DrMetal and @HemeOncHopeful19 for the advice.

I will contact a lawyer tomorrow. I did find information on my state's license board regarding their ability to deny licensing that might be applicable to my situation:

"A professional licensing board shall have the authority to refuse to grant a license to an applicant therefor or to revoke the license of a person licensed by that board or to discipline a person licensed by that board, upon a finding by a majority of the entire board that the licensee or applicant has:

1. ...
2. ....
3. Been convicted of any felony or of any crime involving moral turpitude in the courts of this state or any other state, territory, or country or in the courts of the United States; as used in this paragraph, paragraph (4) of this subsection, and subsection (q) of this Code section, the term "felony" shall include any offense which, if committed in this state, would be deemed a felony, without regard to its designation elsewhere; and, as used in this paragraph and subsection (q) of this Code section, the term "conviction" shall include a finding or verdict of guilty or a plea of guilty, regardless of whether an appeal of the conviction has been sought;
4. 1. Been arrested, charged, and sentenced for the commission of any felony, or any crime involving moral turpitude, when:
      1. A sentence for such offense was imposed pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 8 of Title 42 or another state's first offender laws;
      2. A sentence for such offense was imposed pursuant to subsection (a) or (c) of Code Section 16-13-2;
      3. A sentence for such offense was imposed as a result of a plea of nolo contendere; or
      4. An adjudication of guilt or sentence was otherwise withheld or not entered on the charge.

So hopefully, being that my adjudicated charges were misdemonors and having never plead guilty or been convicted on that felony charge, this won't be a disqualifing issue. Still pretty scared and will consult a lawyer tomorrow.

 

[DrMetal]

Thanks, @DrMetal and @HemeOncHopeful19 for the advice.

There are also 3rd party companies that will apply for you and assist in legal matters (typically for FMGs, visa issues, etc), may look into one of these. I don't imagine they're cheap, but may help.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Depending on how quickly this could be done, in addition to contacting an attorney who is an expert on medical licensing in state of your residency for advice on disclosing your history to the licensing board, you should also contact a criminal attorney in the state(s) where you committed the offenses about sealing or expunging your criminal history.

If you are able to get an order(s) granting that your record be sealed/expunged fairly quickly (e.g. before you submit your licensing app), then you could legally answer "no" to those questions. If this can't be done because of the timeframe, then follow the advice of the licensing attorney.

Regardless you should seek sealing/expungement moving forward.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I think a lawyer is overkill. Disclose it, and it won't be a problem. It's far in the past. No one will care. It may slow the process, but it won't stop you from getting a training license.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

I don't know ProgDirector.

It's overkill to seek an attorney if the charges were shoplifting or simple trespass. But battery as a juvenile and possession, disorderly conduct, obstruction of justice, and terroristic threats as a 20 yo adult? Although they were dismissed/dropped, wouldn't these very serious charges raise alarm bells to the licensing board?

 

[Starbuxian]

I know someone who had a misdemeanor for using a fake ID to get into bars during sophomore year in undergrad. The charges were dropped after they served community service. They disclosed it and did not have an issue obtaining a license.

 

[Vandalia]

Age matters. Something you did at 17 carries far less weight than something you did at 27.

What you did before entering the medical "pipeline" matters far less than an arrest after you started medical school.

In addition, there are three classes of crime that receive extra scrutiny: First, sexual offenses. (For hopefully obvious reasons.) Second, "drug" offenses. (Again, for fairly obvious reasons.) Finally, crimes involving "moral turpitude." These are generally fraud related offenses. It always seemed slightly strange to me, but shooting someone in anger would be viewed more favorably than using your roommates credit card without permission to order a pizza.

The most important factor is to be completely honest. To be clear, I am not a lawyer, and this is most definitely not legal advice. However, in my experience you would be far better off to tell the medical board what you had in your initial post rather than not disclose it and try to offer a legal argument that you did not need to disclose because the juvenile offense was sealed, the other's were expunged, etc. Again, NOT legal advice.

The second factor is that you should have a good story as to how you addressed and how you will mitigate the actions that led to the arrests. If I was still on the medical board and it came before the board, I would want to know if alcohol is still an issue. I would also be concerned about anger related issues. What is going to happen in February of your intern year, when you are sleep deprived, the nurses have been calling all night, and you have a patient who is driving you crazy? Or a family member? I would have good answers to both of those categories in your pocket; you probably don't need to disclose them at this stage; but you should have good answers ready.

So, sure, check with a lawyer licensed in THAT state. (Not your college roommate or cousin in another state.)

However, as I mentioned, these offenses are not in the categories that generally receive extra scrutiny from the medical board.

But again, if someone tells you not to disclose them, make triple, extra, sure that is correct. The arrests are likely not a problem; failure to disclose them could get you in deep trouble. As the old Washington saying goes, "It is never the crime, it is the coverup."

 

[NotAProgDirector]

It's overkill to seek an attorney if the charges were shoplifting or simple trespass. But battery as a juvenile and possession, disorderly conduct, obstruction of justice, and terroristic threats as a 20 yo adult? Although they were dismissed/dropped, wouldn't these very serious charges raise alarm bells to the licensing board?

They obviously had an attorney when the charges were filed and then dropped / expunged / whatever. I'm not arguing against that.

But what's the point of an attorney now? Do you want them to tell you whether you should put these down on the application or not? If the OP doesn't disclose them and then they become an issue (and now it's a combination of the original crimes and now not reporting them), "my lawyer told me it was OK" isn't an excuse at all. So what, exactly, is a lawyer going to be able to do?

The OP is almost certainly applying for a training license. They will be supervised. The board is unlikely to care about something far in the past. if they do care, talking to a lawyer beforehand is unlikely to be helpful. At least I can't see how it would help?

If the board calls them for an interview (which is really unlikely), then at that point a lawyer may be a good option - someone who is familiar with that state board and can help plan for an interview. I guess you could argue that they should retain a lawyer first, in case they get called for an interview. I think that's overkill, but we may reasonably disagree on that point.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Granted I am ignorant as to how the licensing board members will interpret the charges, and unless anyone posting on SDN has had experience processing and approving licensing applications, it's all speculative on whether the board members will grant the OP the license or not based on the OP's situation.

After working so hard to graduate and match, I think the stakes are too high to go at it alone without the expertise of a licensing attorney because of the seriousness of OP's charges. I repeat that if the charge was a simple shoplifting or a disturbance of the peace, then consulting a licensing attorney beforehand would likely be an overkill. However, based on what has been revealed by the OP, they should ensure all their Ts are crossed and Is are dotted so that the application process is as smooth as possible, IMHO.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

OP needs to speak to an attorney focusing on state licensing issues immediately. No ifs, ands, or buts. They need good advice about how to work through this process. From what I’ve heard in these situations, a good licensing attorney can be the difference between coming out of this smelling like a rose or sinking yourself after you go through the whole process suboptimally.

I also don’t think the board will just wave their hands at charges like “terroristic threats” etc, especially in the context of an arrest related to drunkenness, underage possession, etc. OP definitely has to worry about getting sent to the PHP here among other things. Medical boards are generally very interested in any behavior related to what they see to be drug/alcohol abuse, especially if it led to criminal charges. Doesn’t matter how far in the past it was. People have been sent to the state PHP over an undisclosed DUI that happened 25 years ago, way before they were in medicine.

Lawyer, stat.

 

[j4pac]

I think a lawyer is overkill. Disclose it, and it won't be a problem. It's far in the past. No one will care. It may slow the process, but it won't stop you from getting a training license.

I think that I'd probably get a lawyer. I agree that it probably won't be necessary. But this is a question that is going to be continually asked, and I probably would want the peace of mind. I'd hope that a few episodes of hooliganism wouldn't condemn someone to a life of poverty.

But yeah, sign me up for the stories of terrorism. I'm assuming that it's not of the Usama Bin Laden variety?

 

[Vandalia]

I have told this story in the EM forum, but a doctor was licensed near where I used to live who had a previous life sentence for kidnapping a young woman for ransom and burying her in a coffin like structure. He was paroled, got admitted to medical school (hey, it was the 70's) and got a provisional license in Indiana.

Then there was a lot of media attention and it was revoked. What got his license revoked was not the kidnapping and the life sentence, but the fact that he did not report a relatively minor disciplinary action in residency. (Although the real issue was the kidnapping.) It was a really famous case, and there was a TV movie about it back in the 70's.

He then was arrested and did a federal sentence for drug and human smuggling.

Past Haunts Chrisney Doctor

Gary Steven Krist

So I don't know if this will make the OP feel better, or worse.

 

[Dral]

I had an underage drinking charge at 17. I went to a lawyer right before applying for my state license. It was largely a useless endeavor for me. Maybe I needed to seek out a more specialized lawyer. Anyway, I disclosed and it didn't hold anything up at all.

I feel your charges are a bit more serious (and more numerous), thus it may be worth consulting a lawyer. I don't think it's so much a question of whether to disclose, but more about them helping you frame how it is presented. I had to attach an extra page explaining what happened. It was relatively straight forward for me. For you, having a lawyer to help explain what happened could be advantageous. Maybe not necessary in the end, but I believe it will help present yourself in the best way possible and also give you some peace of mind that you did what you could to optimize the process.