DALA Medical License Suspension Appeal
This past July, the Board of Registration in Medicine summarily suspended a physician’s license, alleging that he posed “an immediate and serious threat to the public health, safety and welfare.” According to the Board’s press release, he had prescribed medications to two individuals without “legitimate purposes and not in the usual course of his medical practice.” The Board’s summary suspension process provides for a hearing after the suspension, at the Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA).
The physician immediately retained Mr. Hyams and a colleague to represent him for his DALA hearing. Their work on the case through most of August included intensive fact checking and development, retention of a medical expert and a thorough review of Board precedent. In this effort, Attorney Hyams found 14 previous Board precedents, going back twenty years, and were able to show that the Board had never imposed more than a reprimand, fine or course of additional education/training for similar allegations – even when found to be true.
DALA Magistrate Rules in Favor of Physician; Denies Board’s Motion
The hearing record closed at the beginning of September, and on October 14, DALA issued its 28 page Recommended Decision to the Board. The DALA Magistrate ultimately ruled for the physician and denied the Board’s motion for summary suspension of the physician’s license “for lack of proof that his judgment was so poor that his continued practice represents an immediate threat to public health.”
The next step is for the full Board to accept, reject or modify the Magistrate’s decision.
Update
The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine recently voted 6-0 to reverse its earlier decision and restore a KCL client’s medical license. Read More
About Attorney Hyams
Andrew L. Hyams, Esq. specializes in representing physicians and other health professionals in licensing and disciplinary matters before their respective regulatory boards, and in peer review matters. He served as the General Counsel at the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine for five years. He has also been Deputy General Counsel at the Boston Public Health Commission. Mr. Hyams is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and New York. He can be reached at [email protected] or (781) 997-1566.