Unfortunately, you may have no choice but to acknowledge the fact that you were the perpetrator of a medical misconduct incident. You may feel as though your behaviors and actions were so out of the ordinary for your standards, almost as though you were not yourself in that moment. Here, in an attempt to defend yourself in front of the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) or Office of Professional Discipline (OPD), you may want to cite your mental health crisis as the driving catalyst of this incident. Without further ado, please read on to discover whether you are allowed to claim mental illness in your medical misconduct defense and how one of the seasoned New York health care professional defense lawyers at Walker Medical Law can help work on an effective legal strategy.
Can I practice medicine if I have a diagnosed mental illness?
New York State law allows you to practice medicine if you have a diagnosed mental illness, so long as you can still practice safely and competently. In other words, the law bars you from practicing medicine if you are significantly impaired by drugs, alcohol, a physical disability, and namely, a mental disability. With that being said, you must remain transparent about the state of your mental health and disclose when you are undergoing any sort of struggles with it. This is because the Committee on Physicians’ Health of the Medical Society of the State of New York may offer you confidential assistance, education, and other supportive resources whenever necessary.
Can I effectively claim mental illness in my medical misconduct defense?
Simply put, you generally cannot use mental illness to defend your medical misconduct incident. This is because the OPMC or OPD may find your behaviors and actions that led to the event as negligent, even if your mental illness heavily influences these behaviors and actions. Further, New York’s medical malpractice law does not necessarily require specific intent behind your behaviors and actions to constitute it as misconduct. So you may still be held liable for sexual misconduct, billing fraud, or any other negligent act that was committed accidentally as a result of your mental illness.
To reiterate, the OPMC or OPD would have rather you disclosed your mental health struggles in a timely manner, and taken time away from your practice to prevent such an incident from happening altogether. So, it may make matters worse for you if you never reported your mental illness diagnosis with the Board, even when you were initially applying for a medical license in New York State.
If you need legal representation fast, one of the competent New York healthcare professional defense lawyers is prepared to step up. The team at Walker Medical Law looks forward to meeting you, working with you, and helping you.
