Working as an optometrist in California requires excellent skills in optometry, experience, and a license that allows you to offer legal services throughout California. You apply for a permit after completing your studies and gaining the necessary skills in the field. The California Board of Optometry must ensure you understand your duties and legal mandate to your patients before issuing a license. You have to maintain professionalism and remain competent to keep serving your clients. Otherwise, the board can cancel your license at any time after the issuance.

Since the board cannot follow your every move after licensing, it accepts complaints and reports from the public to decide whether to continue or discontinue your license. A serious allegation puts your career at risk even after a short time of obtaining a permit. To stay safe, you can partner with our skilled attorneys at Sacramento License Attorney to safeguard your career and fight any allegations that could result in the cancellation of your license. You should contact us immediately after being notified of a pending case against you in Sacramento to start working on your defense.

Reasons to Defend Your Optometry License

Optometrists specialize in diagnosing, treating, and caring for specific eye-related problems. Since this is a specialization in the healthcare sector, it requires a person to train as a medical doctor and then continue their studies for a few more years to specialize in that particular area. Training in the healthcare field, in itself, takes several years. Thus, you must devote many years to training and acquiring experience before obtaining an optometry license. This should be among the reasons you must defend your license with all you have if you are on the verge of losing it.

Additionally, only a few doctors pursue this specialization. You are lucky to find several optometrists in one zone. This leaves people needing these special services with only a few options when seeking treatment. It also means many people depend on your license to improve or regain sight. Losing your license means suffering to the many people who require your diagnosis, treatment, and care. It puts their general well-being at risk. Fighting to maintain your license is a noble thing to do to ensure people in need of your service will receive adequate help and specialized treatment at the time of their need.

You also have needs that depend on your ability to earn an income. If you have other dependents, several people will likely suffer if the Board of Optometry cancels your license. After training to obtain your license for years, losing it in a few days, weeks, or months does not make sense. However, a competent attorney can help you defend a career you have built for yourself and invested so much money and time in. Their advice will also guide you in making better decisions in the future to avoid facing a similar or any other administrative process.

Your skills as an optometrist are invaluable to yourself, the people who depend on your income, and the patients who need your service to improve. This should motivate you to take action immediately after learning that the board is investigating your conduct. If the Board of Optometry starts an investigation, it will likely take action against you, especially if there is evidence of your unprofessionalism or misconduct. An attorney will ensure you understand your position, what to expect, and some strategies that could help the situation. They will also act as your legal representative during the hearing, from which the board will determine the most suitable discipline for you.

The Primary Mandate of the Board of Optometry

The Board of Optometry issues licenses to all qualified optometrists in California. However, its mandate is not usually for medical professionals but for the public. The board uses stringent measures when licensing qualified optolevelists to ascertain that the public receives safe, quality, affordable, and adequate medical care whenever they experience eye-related problems. To achieve this noble mandate, the board must consider your level of training, additional skills, experience, and understanding of the law governing your career to determine your suitability for licensing. This mandate extends even after licensing to ensure you continue delivering professional and competent services months and years after acquiring your license.

This mandate puts the board in a position where it has to maintain a close watch on every medical professional it licenses. Although this is usually not possible, especially on a day-to-day basis, the board accepts complaints from the public if anyone is dissatisfied or injured while seeking treatment. As a result, it receives so many allegations through phone, email, text messages, or random messages from patients, their families, or other medical professionals. Due to its responsibility to the public, the board cannot dismiss these allegations. Instead, it chooses to pursue the authentic ones and only drops the unsubstantiated ones.

Suppose the Board of Optometry receives an allegation of your misconduct or criminal involvement and decides to pursue the matter. In that case, it will notify you of the claims and give you a hearing date. This means the board will investigate your past and present conduct and anything else to help build a solid case against you. The hearing will determine the best discipline it will use against you. This depends on the severity of the allegation and your history of performance in the healthcare sector.

If you have not been delivering your service as you should, the board can cancel your license. However, if this is your first violation, the board can be lenient when disciplining you. The problem is that most disciplinary actions the board uses affect your career or reputation. Even the most lenient discipline can result in irreparable damage to a job you have built for years. You need legal representation to avoid such negative consequences on your career, license, or reputation in general. A competent license attorney will work closely with you to develop a strong defense that will resolve your case favorably.

Actions That Count as Professional Misconduct for Optometrists

The Board of Optometry has a list of dos and don'ts that licensed optometrists should not engage in to avoid losing their licenses and careers. It helps to familiarize yourself with these regulations to avoid mistakes that could affect your livelihood in any way. Examples include the following:

  • Being excessive when prescribing treatment or medication

  • Any sexual misconduct, whether with a colleague or patient

  • Being mentally, emotionally, or mentally unfit to discharge your services

  • Bring incompetent or negligent when offering treatment

  • Failing to abide by infection control regulations or any other health or safety standard

  • Use or abuse of alcohol and drugs, especially while working

  • Misusing topical treatments with patients or colleagues

  • Being fraudulent when obtaining or renewing your license

  • Discharging your service or running your practice without a legal license

  • Knowingly engaging unlicensed or unqualified assistants in a professional position

  • Using deceptive or misleading advertising practices

  • Any unprofessional behavior

  • Running a practice from an unauthorized location

  • Engaging in criminal acts that affect your competence or professionalism

  • Prescribing medications without examining or diagnosing a patient

  • Going beyond the limitations of your license when discharging your service

  • Failing to keep proper records for your patients

  • Using false or forged patient records for fraudulent purposes

  • Failing to provide patient records upon request

  • Failing to refer a patient in need of specialized care

  • Being investigated by another government body or licensing body, even from another state

  • Violating the conditions of your probation

The board does not pursue all allegations and complaints it receives from the public. It only takes action if the claim can be substantiated. If you are notified of a pending case, it means that the board is pursuing your case. That should be when you speak to an attorney to understand your rights and options in defending yourself and fighting for a favorable resolution. If a complaint is not credible, the board will dismiss it before notifying the accused professional. If the board investigates your case and finds out the allegation is false, it can dismiss the matter before informing you about the hearing.

The Board of Optometry also uses various disciplinary actions against unprofessional or incompetent optometrists. Some disciplines are lenient, but others are harsh. Examples include the following:

Citations and Reprimand Letters

The board uses these most lenient disciplines against optometrists accused of unprofessional behavior. The board uses citations and reprimands as warnings that the board is aware of your conduct. It is also a warning against similar unprofessional behavior in the future. Some citations include a condition to pay a particular fine (according to the severity of the allegation).

Although citations and reprimands do not affect your career or license, they could impact your reputation, job, and prospects. This is because the board makes them public. Since members of the public can access them, you could lose your job or patients if your employer and patients learn about your misconduct.

Your attorney can challenge any disciplinary action that will likely damage your reputation or career. They can convince the board to dismiss the allegation, issue a public citation, or a letter of reprimand. They can negotiate a reasonable fine or compel the board to ignore the fine payment requirement.

License Probation

The Board of Optometry also uses probation as a form of discipline against professionals who are accused of unprofessional behavior. Generally, it uses probations during the investigations to allow the professional to change their behavior or correct their mistake before the conclusion of their case.

Although probation allows you to continue serving your patients, you lose the freedom to work and make decisions. You must adhere to specific probation conditions that could infringe on your freedom.

Your attorney can fight the probation to ensure you continue earning a living freely, without restrictions. They can also negotiate for a fair probation period and conditions to ensure you serve your penalties with minimal issues.

License Suspension and Revocation

The board uses harsh penalties for grave violations, especially those that cause injury to a patient, colleague, or public member. Remember that the board exists because of the public. If you put a person at risk of harm or death, you could lose your license and the ability to earn a living as an optometrist.

If the discipline you receive is a license suspension, you will not work in the healthcare sector until you reinstate your license. Suspensions can last for several months or years, depending on the severity of your unprofessionalism. You will no longer work in the healthcare industry if the discipline is a license revocation. This marks the end of a career you have worked hard to build.

Your attorney can help you in several ways, depending on the discipline you face from the board. If you face a license suspension, a skilled attorney will use the best strategy to ensure it does not happen. They can introduce mitigating factors in your case or any other compelling evidence that could force the board and the judges to drop your allegations. An aggressive attorney can also fight a license revocation to ensure you retain your ability to work as an optometrist in California. They can negotiate for a reduced penalty, like probation or suspension, instead of revocation.

Find a Competent Sacramento License Defense Attorney Near Me

As a licensed optometrist in Sacramento, you should be careful about any action or inaction that could damage your reputation or impact your license. The Board of Optometry always looks for unprofessional behavior that puts your patients or the public at risk. It will not hesitate to send you on probation or suspend or cancel your license if your actions warrant it.

Talk to us at Sacramento License Attorney immediately after the board notifies you of an administrative process against you. It helps to prepare well for the hearing to avoid harsh discipline that could affect your ability to earn a living. Since you have worked very hard to build your career in the healthcare sector, you should work equally hard to defend your profession. Call us at 279-242-4711 to learn more about your case and how we can help.