Tag: Medical School

Disciplinary Action, Fail to Report, Gunshot wounds, Medical practice in Ohio, Misdemeanor conviction, State Medical Board of Ohio, Uncategorized

Ohio Physicians: Do you know the Reporting Requirements?

Did you know that in Ohio, if you give aid to a sick or injured person, the failure to report to law enforcement any gunshot or stab wound that you have treated or observed, or any serious physical harm to a person that you know or have reasonable cause to believe resulted from an offense of violence, could result in a misdemeanor criminal charge and conviction?

Ohio Revised Code 2921.22(B) provides:
“Except for conditions that are within the scope of division (E) of this section, no person giving aid to a sick or injured person shall negligently fail to report to law enforcement authorities any gunshot or stab wound treated or observed by the person, or any serious physical harm to persons that the person knows or has reasonable cause to believe resulted from an offense of violence.”

Many are unaware of this reporting requirement.  However, ignorance of the law is no defense.

Unless you have completed a residency program in emergency medicine, trauma, or surgery, you might have never heard of this reporting law.  We are not aware that medical schools in Ohio routinely address this reporting law.

Often, patients who have been involved in or have been a victim of a crime, or an incident involving a gunshot or stab wound or serious physical harm, are unwilling or unable to truthfully explain to their medical professional how the injury occurred.  In certain instances, it may be difficult to determine if an injury is the result of a crime of violence.  Physicians should be aware that a patient who has been involved in a crime might try to tell the physician that they were “accidently” injured (for example, while hunting or by mistake).

If you have reasonable cause to believe that a gunshot or stab wound or serious physical harm resulted from an offense of violence, the failure report to law enforcement could result in criminal charges and conviction for misdemeanor, Failure to Report a Crime, and the conviction could result in a disciplinary action against your Ohio medical license (R.C. 4731.22(B)(11)).

As always, if you have any questions about this post or the State Medical Board of Ohio, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC, or contact me at beth@collislaw.com or 614-486-3909.

Medical practice in Ohio, self prescribing, State Medical Board of Ohio, Uncategorized

Ohio Physicians considering retirement should make the decision voluntarily and prior to being compelled to retire by the State Medical Board of Ohio

Questions often arise as to when it is appropriate to retire from the practice of medicine.  In many instances, physicians who are happy and healthy do not want to consider retirement.  Many physicians have told me that they have devoted their entire life to their medical practice and that, because they do not have any other hobbies, skills, or interests, they desire to continue to practice medicine. Additionally, physicians have told me that they are concerned that they may not have the financial means to stop working. Finally, many physicians are concerned that they will miss the daily interaction with their staff and their patients.

The State Medical Board of Ohio (“Medical Board”) does not have a specific retirement age.  A Physician with a valid license to practice medicine in Ohio may continue to do so for so as long as they are mentally and physically fit to practice and comply with Medical Board laws and rules.  However, if the Medical Board has reason to believe that a physician is unfit to practice medicine, the Medical Board has the legal authority to order a physician to a medical or mental health evaluation.

Ohio Revised Code Section 4731.22(B)(19) provides:

“(B) The board, by an affirmative vote of not fewer than six members, shall, to the extent permitted by law, limit, revoke, or suspend an individual’s certificate to practice or certificate to recommend, refuse to issue a certificate to an individual, refuse to renew a certificate, refuse to reinstate a certificate, or reprimand or place on probation the holder of a certificate for one or more of the following reasons:

(19) Inability to practice according to acceptable and prevailing standards of care by reason of mental illness or physical illness, including, but not limited to, physical deterioration that adversely affects cognitive, motor, or perceptive skills.

In enforcing this division, the board, upon a showing of a possible violation, may compel any individual authorized to practice by this chapter or who has submitted an application pursuant to this chapter to submit to a mental examination, physical examination, including an HIV test, or both a mental and a physical examination. The expense of the examination is the responsibility of the individual compelled to be examined. Failure to submit to a mental or physical examination or consent to an HIV test ordered by the board constitutes an admission of the allegations against the individual unless the failure is due to circumstances beyond the individual’s control, and a default and final order may be entered without the taking of testimony or presentation of evidence.

For the purpose of this division, any individual who applies for or receives a certificate to practice under this chapter accepts the privilege of practicing in this state and, by so doing, shall be deemed to have given consent to submit to a mental or physical examination when directed to do so in writing by the board, and to have waived all objections to the admissibility of testimony or examination reports that constitute a privileged communication. (emphasis added)

If the Medical Board has reason to believe that a physician is unable to practice according to acceptable and prevailing standards of care by reason of mental illness or physical illness, a formal disciplinary action may be commenced.  This action may include (but is not limited to) ordering the physician to undergo a mental and/or physical examination.  Failure to submit to a mental and/or physical examination as ordered by the board constitutes an admission of the allegations against the physician, unless the failure is due to circumstances beyond the physician’s control.

On the basis of the mental and/or physical examination, the Medical Board can require the physician to submit to care, counseling, or treatment by physicians approved or designated by the Medical Board as a condition for reinstatement to practice.  The physician will receive an opportunity to demonstrate to the Medical Board their ability to resume practice in compliance with acceptable and prevailing standards under the provisions of the individual’s certificate.

In order to suspend a physician’s medical license, or to recommend retirement, the Medical Board must find that the physician’s continued practice, “presents a danger of immediate and serious harm to the public.”

In the past few years, we have seen the Medical Board order certain physicians to submit to a mental and/or physical examination. Based on the result of those examinations, the Medical Board has either suspended the physician’s license or requested that they enter into a “voluntary” permanent retirement of their medical license.

As always, if you have questions about this post or the State Medical Board of Ohio in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

State Medical Board of Ohio

The Hippocratic Oath: A Blueprint For Certain Legal Requirements Applicable to Ohio Physicians

The Hippocratic Oath (“Oath”) is arguably the most widely known ancient Greek medical text.  The Oath governs ancient Greek physicians’ professional and ethical behavior.  Although written approximately 2,500 years ago, certain standards in the Oath are reflected in current legal requirements concerning Ohio physicians’ medical practice and behavior.

This is a literal translation of the original version of the Oath:

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Health and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses, making them witnesses, that I will make complete this oath and this written covenant according to my ability and discernment: 

–To regard my teacher of this art as equal to my parents and to share my livelihood (with him), and to make a contribution to him when he is in need of a debt, and to judge his offspring as equal to my brothers in manhood, and to teach this art – if they want to learn it – without wage and written covenant (to them), to make an imparting of the set of rules and lecture and all the rest of instruction to my sons and those of my teacher, and to those pupils who have been indentured and who have taken an oath according to the medical law, but to no one else. 

-I will use diets for the assistance of the sick according to my ability and discernment; but also to keep away injury of health and injustice. 

–I will neither give any deadly drug, having been asked for it, nor will I guide the same advice. Similarly, I will not give an abortifacient pessary to a woman. In purity and in holiness I will maintain my life and my art. 

-I will not use the knife, not even on those suffering from the stone, but I will give way to those who are practitioners of this work.

–And as many houses as I may go into, I will go in for the assistance of the sick, being free from all voluntary injustice and mischief and the rest, even abstaining from sexual pleasures of both female and male persons, both free and slaves. 

-That which I may see or hear during treatment, or even outside of treatment concerning the life of men, which must not in any way be divulged outside, I will not speak, regarding such things to be unutterable. 

And so may it be to me making complete my oath and not making it of no effect that I enjoy the benefits of my life and art and be honored by all men for time eternal; but may it be the opposite of this to me transgressing and swearing falsely. 

The Oath taken today has been revised from the above original text.  Although there are portions of the original Oath which are no longer applicable or sworn to by physicians, there are interesting parallels between certain standards in the original Oath and the present-day laws in the Ohio Revised Code (“ORC”), pertaining to Ohio physicians’ medical practice and behavior, the violation of which subjects a physician to disciplinary action by the State Medical Board of Ohio (“Ohio Medical Board”).

No Harm To Patients

The Oath provides: “I will use diets for the assistance of the sick according to my ability and discernment; but also to keep away injury of health and injustice.”  I interpret this provision generally to require the ancient Greek physician (i) to use dietary regimens to assist people who are sick, (ii) not to harm their patients, and (iii) not to do any injustice to their patients.

ORC §4731.22 authorizes the Ohio Medical Board to discipline a physician based acts would could result in patient harm including but not limited to:

ORC §4731.22(B)(2): Failure to maintain minimal standards applicable to the selection or administration of drugs, or failure to employ acceptable scientific methods in the selection of drugs or other modalities for treatment of disease;

ORC §4731.22(B)(3): Selling, giving away, personally furnishing, prescribing, or administering drugs for other than legal and legitimate therapeutic purposes;

ORC §4731.22(B)(6): A departure from, or the failure to conform to, minimal standards of care of similar practitioners under the same or similar circumstances (whether or not actual injury to a patient is established); and

ORC §4731.22(B)(18): Violation of any provision of a code of ethics of the American medical association; and/or

ORC §4731.22(B)(29): Failure to use universal blood and body fluid precautions established by Ohio Medical Board rule.

No Injustice To Patients

ORC §4731.22 also authorizes the Ohio Medical Board to discipline a physician based on an act which evidences an injustice to a patient including but not limited to:

ORC §4731.22(B)(1): Permitting one’s name or one’s certificate to practice or certificate of registration to be used by a person, group, or corporation when the individual concerned is not actually directing the treatment given;

ORC §4731.22(B)(5): Making a false, fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading statement in the solicitation of or advertising for patients; in relation to the practice of medicine and surgery;

ORC §4731.22(B)(7): Representing, with the purpose of obtaining compensation or other advantage as personal gain or for any other person, that an incurable disease or injury, or other incurable condition, can be permanently cured; and/or

ORC §4731.22(B)(8): The obtaining of, or attempting to obtain, money or anything of value by fraudulent misrepresentations in the course of practice.

Although the requirement of the Oath to, “keep away injury of health and injustice” is phrased more broadly than the specific requirements in the ORC, a parallel between the requirements of the Oath and the ORC is apparent.  The dictates imposed by both the ancient Greek caregivers and the Ohio legislature evidence important standards that a physician do no harm to the patient and promote the just (ie, honest and truthful) relationship between the physician and the patient.

Sanctity Of Life 

The Oath provides: “I will neither give any deadly drug, having been asked for it, nor will I guide the same advice. Similarly, I will not give an abortifacient pessary to a woman. In purity and in holiness I will maintain my life and my art.”  The requirements (i) not to give or recommend any deadly drug, (ii) not to induce an abortion, and (iii) for the physician to hold his or her own life in purity and holiness, individually and collectively, support the notion that ancient Greek physicians held human life as sacred.

ORC §4731.22(B)(3) authorizes the Ohio Medical Board to discipline a physician for selling, giving away, personally furnishing, prescribing, or administering drugs for other than legal and legitimate therapeutic purposes.  Additionally, assisted suicide is against public policy in Ohio (ORC §3795.02(A) and is required to be enjoined by a Court of Common Pleas (ORC §3795.02(B)).  Consequently, ORC §4731.22(B)(37) authorizes the Ohio Medical Board to discipline a physician for assisting suicide.

Subject to certain express conditions and exceptions in Ohio law beyond the scope of this article, ORC §4731.22(B)(23) authorizes the Ohio Medical Board to discipline a physician for performing or inducing an abortion upon a pregnant woman.

No Sexual Misconduct

The Oath provides: “And as many houses as I may go into, I will go in for the assistance of the sick, being free from all voluntary injustice and mischief and the rest, even abstaining from sexual pleasures of both female and male persons, both free and slaves.

OAC §4731-26-02(A) authorizes the Ohio Medical Board to discipline a physician for engaging in sexual misconduct with a patient.

Confidentiality 

The Oath provides: “That which I may see or hear during treatment, or even outside of treatment concerning the life of men, which must not in any way be divulged outside, I will not speak, regarding such things to be unutterable.”

ORC §4731.22(B)(4) authorizes the Ohio Medical Board to discipline a physician for willfully betraying a professional confidence.

Conclusion 

The standards in the Oath applicable to ancient Greek physicians to do no patient harm, to have a just patient relationship, to take no act contrary to human life, to abstain from sexual misconduct with a patient, and to protect patient confidential information, are reflected in present-day legal requirements applicable to Ohio physicians’ medical practice and behavior.

That the Oath is recited in medical schools even today (See: http://medicine.osu.edu/news/archive/2012/08/21/reciting-the-hippocratic-oath-a-family-centered-tradition.aspx) is a testament to the enduring verities contained in the Oath.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or the Ohio Medical Board in general, please contact Collis, Smiles & Collis, LLC or Beth Collis at 614-486-3909 or Beth@collislaw.com.