How Do I Prove My Innocence to the OPMC?

You may be in denial and overall shell-shocked when you receive a notice from the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) or Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) informing you of their planned investigation against you. While this may be your worst nightmare turned into your reality, it is in your best interest to actively cooperate with the investigation. In the meantime, you should retain legal representation and prepare a legal strategy for proving your innocence in your likely upcoming hearing. For this, please read on to discover how to prove your innocence at your upcoming OPMC hearing and how one of the seasoned OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyers at Walker Medical Law can help you avoid a guilty verdict.

How do I prove my innocence at my OPMC hearing?

At your hearing in front of the OPMC Board (i.e., two physicians and one layperson), you may be given the opportunity to introduce evidence of your innocence in the medical misconduct incident in question. For this, you must understand the exact allegations that have been made against you, as made clear in your initial notice and subsequent investigations. This is so you may identify any inconsistencies or factual errors within these accusations, and present relevant evidence highlighting these misconceptions. Examples of applicable evidence may entail your patient’s chart, medical records, bills, notes taken during their appointments, etc. After all, as the defendant of an OPMC hearing, you carry the burden of providing a preponderance of the evidence.

To take it one step further, you may even want to recruit witnesses to testify on your behalf in your hearing proceedings. These witnesses may consist of your colleagues, your employer, or any other patients present at the time the alleged medical misconduct incident took place. This may further solidify your testimony as fact rather than fabricated excuses. On this note, you must remember to not speak so freely and accidentally incriminate yourself. That is, you hold the right to remain silent and have your legal representative speak on your behalf when necessary.

What do I do if the OPMC Board finds me guilty?

Unfortunately, even with all this preparation and supporting evidence, the OPMC Board may still make a final ruling that you are guilty of committing the alleged act of medical misconduct. So, if you believe that this guilty verdict was based on a complete misunderstanding, you may take it upon yourself to appeal the decision to an Administrative Review Board. Here, this Board may reevaluate your evidence and your overall case to determine whether the decision was unfair and/or whether the imposed penalties were too harsh. In a best-case scenario, this Board may reverse the decision and your innocence may be acknowledged once and for all.

We hope that this blog offers the insight you were searching for. For more information, we encourage you to contact one of the competent OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyers from Walker Medical Law today.