A domestic violence charge is a criminal offense that may negatively offer many aspects of your life, including your employment. With this, your right to carry a medical license may be on the line. If you have been accused of domestic violence, follow along to find out how this may impact your medical license and how one of the proficient New York physician defense lawyers at Walker Medical Law can come to your defense.
What is the significance of a domestic violence charge?
Depending on the circumstances surrounding your case, your domestic violence charge may constitute a felony conviction. And so, you may not only face over a year in jail and hefty fines, but your employment, financial, and educational opportunities may also be directly impacted. What’s more, as a physician, nurse, or otherwise a medical provider, such a felony conviction will likely render your medical license invalid.
This is an unideal situation. This is especially the case if you believe that you have been wrongly accused of domestic violence. That is, we have seen instances where a domestic partner has deliberately intended to hurt the other’s reputation and professional standing by making such a loaded claim.
How can I protect my medical license after this charge?
If you are a currently practicing medical provider who has been accused of domestic violence, then this will likely be brought to the attention of the Department of Health and/or the Department of Education. From here, they will likely investigate you, and you may even have to provide a statement in their presence. Nonetheless, it is difficult to protect your situation from reaching the Department of Health and the Department of Education. So, it is in your best interest to not do anything to make this unideal situation any worse. In other words, you should do everything in your power to minimize the issues at hand.
Or, say, for instance, that you are a medical student who is seeking medical licensure, but you have a domestic violence charge on your record. In this case, you must disclose this conviction on your license application. You should do this regardless of whether you were found guilty of a misdemeanor, found guilty of a felony, pleaded no contest to a crime, have a pending criminal case, have an ongoing criminal case, or otherwise. From here, the New York Medical Board may consider the following when determining whether to grant you medical licensure:
- The type of domestic violence conviction you received.
- The number of convictions you received.
- The date of your conviction.
- The circumstances surrounding your conviction.
- Whether you participated in rehabilitation, court-ordered or otherwise.
Regardless of what position you are in, you should not approach this without having legal representation from one of the talented New York health care professional defense lawyers. Consult with us today.
