When the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) receives a complaint about you, they may summon you to a hearing. After this hearing, there is a 50/50 chance that the Administrative Review Board (ARB) will rule you guilty of medical misconduct. This may be followed by a slew of imposed penalties, the worst being the permanent revocation of your medical license. But you should not sit idly by once this decision is reached, especially if you believe it to be all a complete misunderstanding. Rather, you must understand your right to appeal this decision. That said, please read on to discover whether you can appeal an OPMC decision you are dissatisfied with and how one of the OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyers at Walker Medical Law can help you attain a favorable ruling.
Can I appeal an OPMC decision I am dissatisfied with?
The short answer is, yes, you can appeal an OPMC decision to the ARB. Notably, the ARB reviews petitions for appeals from medical professionals themselves or the OPMC director. Ultimately, the ARB’s decision is final and replaces that of the original Hearing Committee.
You should not take this second chance to redeem yourself lightly. Instead, you should work hard to collect and submit additional pieces of evidence that may work better to prove your innocence in the matter. Overall, you should practice the arguments you will present, the remorse you will express, and the overall legal strategy you will implement. This likely cannot be done alone, so you must acquire a lawyer at this time.
In the end, you should expect to hear back from the ARB within 45 days of your initial filing date for an appeal. Again, if you do not hear back within this timeframe, notify your lawyer and allow them to intervene on your behalf.
What if I am still dissatisfied with the appeal?
Unfortunately, you may still not get the ruling you were looking for in your appeal. So if you are still dissatisfied, you may be able to file an appeal on the ARB’s decision to the New York State Courts. At this point, you may have exhausted all your other administrative remedies.
On the flip side, it is important to know that the option for an appeal may work against you. For instance, say that you were found not guilty of medical misconduct at your original hearing. Well, the OPMC director may disagree and file an appeal to have a guilty verdict placed against you instead. This is definitely something to be wary of.
Now that you have this background knowledge, your next step should be to employ one of the competent OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyers to represent you. So contact us at Walker Medical Law today.
