Your driving while intoxicated (DWI) may have been a one-time incident that you want nothing more than to put behind you. But sadly, you may have to carry this around with you for an indefinite amount of time. This is because in New York State a DWI offense constitutes a criminal conviction that may appear on your permanent record. In turn, this may affect many aspects of your life, such as your ability to retain personal loans; your ability to retain custody rights over your children; and especially if you are a medical professional, your ability to retain employment. Well, read on to discover whether a DWI will show up on your background check when renewing your medical license and how a seasoned New York substance abuse lawyer at Walker Medical Law can help mitigate its effects.
Will my DWI appear on a background check when renewing my medical license?
Say, for instance, that you are applying for your New York State medical license for the first time or applying for its renewal. In either application, you may be posed with the question, “Have you ever been found guilty of a crime?” To reiterate, New York State considers a DWI offense to be a criminal offense. So you must, unfortunately, answer “yes” to this question.
There may be consequences that come along with disclosing your DWI conviction. For one, the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) or Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) may punish you in its own way; by possibly suspending or revoking your medical license. But long-term, this may show up on your background checks for an indefinite period. This may mean that you will experience difficulties being hired to practice in your field of medicine in the future. And even if you do find employment, prospective patients may hesitate to select you as their attending medical professional.
However, it is better to answer this question truthfully than to lie with “no.” This is because lying on your application may be taken quite seriously amongst the New York State medical community. Therefore, you may hurt your professional reputation amongst your peers.
What can I do to help mitigate the consequences of my DWI?
It is worth mentioning that there are some circumstances in which you do not have to answer “yes” to “Have you ever been found guilty of a crime?” For example, this may apply if you were initially accused of a DWI offense but the New York State criminal court ultimately found you not guilty. Or, if you entered a plea bargain by pleading guilty to a traffic violation, which is not considered a criminal offense.
But if you have been guilty of a DWI, you may mitigate its consequences by enrolling in rehabilitative or education courses related to substance abuse. This is to show that you are committed to your personal growth and are well-equipped enough to have your medical license reinstated, among other things.
At the end of the day, if you require immediate legal representation, look no further than one of the competent OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyers. Someone at Walker Medical Law will happily work with you.
