Reviewed by Paul E. Walker

The day you got your medical license revoked may have been your lowest point, career-wise and personally. You may take full responsibility for your actions that led to this decision, which is why you may feel ashamed to stand in front of the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) or Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) and ask for your medical license to be reinstated. However, you should not let this feeling get in the way, and instead gain enough confidence to seize this opportunity, as it may be your only one. So, without further ado, please continue reading to learn how to prove that you deserve to get your medical license reinstated and how an experienced New York medical license restoration lawyer at Walker Medical Law can help you attain this second chance to revive your professional career.

What Is the Process for Getting My Medical License Reinstated?

To petition the Board for restoration, you file an Application for Restoration of a Professional License with the State Education Department, not with OPMC or OPD, in addition to a $750 fee. Additionally, under the rules of the Board of Regents, you are required to wait at least three years from the date the order of revocation was served. From there, your case is heard by a Peer Committee, the Committee on the Professions makes its own recommendation, and the Board of Regents will issue a decision. At this time, the Board may pose two critical questions: “Why should you be reinstated?” and “What will you do if you are reinstated?”

How Do I Prove That I Deserve to Get My Medical License Reinstated?

While the two aforementioned questions may seem relatively straightforward, they may not be necessarily easy to answer. That is, for, “Why should you be reinstated?”, you cannot simply answer, “Because I enjoy practicing medicine” or “I need to start earning a living again.” Rather, you may demonstrate how you have taken this time away to reflect on your negligent actions and work on bettering yourself as a medical professional and overall as a human being. For example, if your incident had to do with substance abuse, you may have voluntarily attended a rehabilitation program. Or, if there was a sexual harassment claim involved, you may have taken it upon yourself to take educational courses on how to avoid doing so ever again.

Secondly, for the question, “What will you do if you are reinstated?”, you cannot respond with “I’m not sure” or “I’ll return back to my original job post.” This is because your past job position has likely already been filled in the meantime, or your employer may simply be unwilling to take you back as one of their employees. It is also rather possible that many employers in the New York State area will be hesitant to hire you, especially if your case also involved a criminal conviction. So, for this, we recommend that you find an employer who has a pending job offer for you in advance, and they may even testify on your behalf in these hearing proceedings.

What the Board Is Actually Weighing

It’s critical to understand that restoration is not automatic, as holding a license is considered a privilege, not a right. In our experience, the Board will look for a compelling reason to restore the license, measured against the severity of misconduct that caused the revocation. Three themes often reappear:

  • Genuine remorse: Being sorry that your career or family suffered is not the same as accepting responsibility for your conduct. It’s important to understand that the Board can tell the difference.
  • No risk of recurrence: This matters most for substance use and sexual misconduct cases, as the priority of the Board is to protect the public, and the Board requires evidence of real rehabilitation.
  • Current competence: After years away from practice, you have to show sustained learning. As such, a handful of online CME courses taken shortly before your application will not carry the argument.

However, one argument you should avoid is attempting to relitigate the original case, as you already made the argument unsuccessfully before OPMC. Attempting to raise the argument again reads as failure to accept responsibility.

What to Put in the Application

  • A clear written statement accepting responsibility for the conduct, without blaming others.
  • Documentation of rehabilitation: treatment records, counseling, support group attendance, or coursework tied to the conduct at issue.
  • A record of continuing education spread across the years you were out of practice, not compressed into a few months.
  • Supporting affidavits from people who know the circumstances of the revocation and can speak to your conduct since. In our experience, the application calls for at least five, several of whom must be licensed in your profession.
  • Evidence of community service or other productive work during the time away.
  • A concrete answer to what you will do if restored, ideally a standing job offer from an employer willing to testify.

Start building this file the day the license is revoked rather than the year you apply. For the timeline and each stage of the process, see our guides to the restoration process and how long restoration takes.

Contact an Experienced New York Physician Defense Firm

All of this to say, the time to act is now. Please pick up the phone or message us at Walker Medical Law. Surely, a skilled OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyer on our team will be the perfect fit for your upcoming legal case. If you are facing legal issues, please do not hesitate to contact our firm today.