As an optometrist, you manage, diagnose, and treat health conditions of the eye and the body’s visual system. You examine your patients’ eyes, diagnose impairment, prescribe corrective lenses, and offer continuing treatment. Sometimes, optometrists face allegations against their medical capabilities and character, affecting their livelihood and the ability to practice. When you have dedicated years of studies, money, and time to your profession, you deserve aggressive legal representation of your professional license. At San Jose License Attorney, we can stand with you throughout the disciplinary process, help you understand your allegations and their effect on your career, and negotiate with your licensing board to close the complaint. We can also work with you to reinstate your suspended or revoked professional license.

Significant Roles of An Optometrist

Most people overlook the benefit of having good eyesight until they start experiencing eye problems, turning to optometrists or opticians for assistance. An optometrist is responsible for the following:

  • Conducting comprehensive eye and vision examinations.
  • Diagnosing eye problems like glaucoma, myopia, and astigmatism.
  • Providing medication, contact lenses, and eyeglasses.

Analyzing eye tests, diagnosing vision problems, performing laser surgery, and offering the appropriate glasses or lenses requires proper training, resources, and attention to detail. You also need profound knowledge and practice experience to use the latest state-of-the-art optometry equipment. Obtaining these skills and professional expertise requires years of training and striving to establish a reputation of trust with patients.

However, when facing a serious misconduct allegation, you risk losing everything you have worked vigorously for, including your optometry license.

The California State Board of Optometry (CSOB)

The board regulates the practice of optometry and opticians in California. The CSOB works to safeguard consumers' health and finances. Optometry is governed by Title 16 of the Business and Professions Code. The California law established the CSOB to undertake the following:

  • Recommend registration standards and criteria.
  • License optometrists and set qualifications, including continuing education, education requirements, and criminal history details.
  • Review disciplinary guidelines and enforce disciplinary actions against licensed optometrists and opticians.
  • Administer optometrist examinations.
  • Prescribe regulations and implement changes to existing rules.
  • Offer information on public interests and complaint procedures.

When the CSOB Can Take Action Against a Licensed Optometrist

Reasons the CSOB can take disciplinary action against an optometrist include the following:

  • Unprofessional conduct.
  • Obtaining an optometry license through fraud.
  • Sexual misconduct — It is illegal to make inappropriate sexual advances or sexual harassment acts towards your patients or colleagues. Additionally, you can face disciplinary discipline for being in a romantic relationship with your patient.
  • Substance abuse while on the job.
  • Practicing optometry without a valid license.
  • Not adhering to infection control regulations.
  • A prior conviction that significantly impedes your ability to continue practicing optometry.
  • Breaching the terms of your probation.
  • Granting prescriptions without conducting appropriate examinations on the patient.
  • Misleading or false advertising.
  • Allowing unlicensed assistants to work under you.
  • Offering unwarranted treatment.
  • Falsifying or failing to maintain proper documentation.
  • Operating beyond the scope of your license.
  • Gross negligence or incompetence.
  • Practicing optometry from an unlawful location.
  • Criminal conviction — You risk losing your optometrist license if the judge finds you guilty of a crime associated with your profession or a crime of moral turpitude (CIMT).

The Different Stages of an Optometrist Disciplinary Action and License Defense

The six stages of a professional license defense include the following:

Filing a Complaint

Enforcement action starts when your professional licensing agency receives a notification for the following:

  • An accusation from any individual.
  • Notice of a criminal charge, apprehension, or conviction.
  • Disciplinary measures by another agency or in another state.

Any individual, including competitors or anonymous parties, can file a complaint online against a professional licensee, alleging breaches of business laws and standards of care. If the CSOB evaluates the complaint and finds a violation within its jurisdiction might have occurred, the issue will be transferred to its investigative section for further investigation.

Investigation and Assessment

You will first know of any investigation into your license when a CSOB investigator notifies you via a call, letter, or email to:

  • Schedule an interview.
  • Request permission to disclose your job records.
  • Serve a formal notice of an allegation or investigation.
  • Recommends you voluntarily enrol in the CSOB’s diversion program.

CSOB’s investigating officials are former forensic analysts, police officers, and other trained investigators with extensive professional experience conducting interrogations and investigations. In the interviews, they seem friendly, casually requesting you to recount events as you recall them. However, they are carefully crafting a strong charge against you.

Once an investigator notifies you of a complaint against you, consult an experienced license defense attorney to help you meticulously develop a defense strategy that does not compromise your defense or unknowingly incriminate you. Legal representation also significantly increases the chances of settling the issue in the investigative phase without the CSOB’s disciplinary action.

Receiving a Formal Accusation

When the CSOB files an official accusation against you, it becomes a public document on their website.

An accusation requires formal pleading documentation from the AG (Attorney General) or the CSOB’s prosecuting attorney. The document outlines why the board wants to impose disciplinary action on your license. It also includes a cost reimbursement statement detailing the CSOB’s investigations and enforcement expenses you must reimburse.

Based on the facts of the case, your attorney's actions can include the following:

  • Obtaining an expert’s assessment of all relevant records.
  • Employing an investigative expert to obtain proof or defense witnesses.
  • Consulting the relevant experts.
  • Securing the needed documentation.
  • Putting together a rehabilitation package for substance abuse.
  • Analyzing potential case liabilities and how they could hurt your defense.
  • Scheduling a meeting with the CSOB investigator to submit documentation that refutes the accusation or reduces the seriousness of the alleged misconduct.

Once you receive the formal accusation, you must respond within 15 days or lose your professional license via a default decision. Your lawyer will promptly file a Notice of Defense to start a dual-approach defense.

Negotiate a Settlement

Your attorney will work with the CSOB to secure acceptable terms for withdrawing the accusation. When mutually agreeable terms are attained, the CSOB will enact a disciplinary order to settle the complaint. The disciplinary order contains the conditions that allow you to keep your optometrist license.

Administrative Hearings

When you and the CSOB cannot reach a mutually acceptable settlement, your lawyer will aggressively fight your matter at the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). An impartial administrative law judge (ALJ) will oversee the hearings, where both parties will present evidence and summon witnesses.

Licensees and license applicants are not entitled to free legal representation at a hearing, although they can retain a lawyer.

After reviewing the evidence, the ALJ will draft a proposed decision with recommended disciplinary actions, including the following:

  • A written warning.
  • Fulfilling terms of probation — These terms can include reporting to the board periodically, completing education, enrolling in a drug rehabilitation center, and paying restitution to the alleged victim.
  • Public letter of reprimand.
  • License suspension.
  • Revocation of license — Professional license revocation is the most severe penalty. Typically, licensing boards reserve it for the most severe violations or repeated breaches after previous disciplinary action.
  • Fines.

The board can impose one penalty or more.

Appealing the Decision

You can contest the ALJ decision by filing a Writ of Mandate in California Superior Court. The writ is an appeal requesting the Superior Court to evaluate the ALJ’s decision. The Superior Court can review an ALJ decision if there are allegations of legal or factual error or abuse of discretion by the ALJ.

Aggravating and Mitigating Factors

Administrative hearings differ from court proceedings because they aim to determine if there is evidence to prove alleged wrongdoing against a professional licensee. Sometimes, your lawyer can prove your innocence by presenting witness reports, identifying inconsistencies in the opposing side’s proof, and cross-examining the prosecution’s witnesses.

Nevertheless, if no defense strategy can spare you disciplinary action, your lawyer may present mitigating proof to lessen penalties. The prosecution team also presents their aggravating factors to increase your punishment. When taking disciplinary action against a licensee, the CSOB considers all aggravating and mitigating factors.

Aggravating evidence can include the following:

  • Prior disciplinary action.
  • Practices that place patients' health, trust, and safety at risk.
  • Breaching your optometrist's terms and conditions of probation that the CSOB previously imposed.
  • Failure to submit testing samples to the CSOB while on probation for substance abuse.
  • Committing an offense against a minor or in the presence of an underage child.
  • Violation of trust through fraud or embezzlement.
  • A pattern of misconduct with a violation or conviction similar to the present one.

You could receive more severe penalties if these aggravating factors are in your allegations. Luckily, your defense lawyer can counter these aggravating factors with the following mitigating evidence:

  • Cooperating with the CSOB during investigations.
  • Admission of misconduct or wrongdoing.
  • Lack of past disciplinary action.
  • Proving the unlikelihood of the charge reoccurring.
  • A claim that significant time has passed after the charge or conviction.

Preparing for the Board’s Investigations into Your Professional License

Upon learning of a CSOB investigation against your optometrist license, you should:

Approach the Investigations With Seriousness

Even though you are confident you have not violated any law and that your optometrist license is not in jeopardy, you should seriously approach the CSOB’s investigations. The CSOB’s thorough, extensive investigations could unravel unknown evidence you were unaware of.

Employ a Lawyer Immediately

Consult your lawyer immediately after you learn of the CSOB’s investigation against you. Your legal counsel assists in all stages of the CSOB investigation. They can respond promptly to the accusations you face by submitting relevant documents and navigating the investigative procedure, allowing you to resume your daily routine.

Cooperate With Your Legal Representative

A lawyer is a skilled legal practitioner with profound experience and knowledge, but you have to cooperate with them to resolve your allegations favorably. Helping your lawyer locate journals, case evidence, publications, specialists, and witnesses enables them to focus on developing formidable case defenses.

Adequate Preparation for the CSOB’s investigations

The CSOB investigators have years of experience and can use the interviews to draw preliminary conclusions about your charge. Most of the questions that you should expect are well-designed beforehand. In scenarios where your initial responses were misleading, they will ask you to answer a series of questions to disclose the absence of honesty. Do not be a victim of this. A proven optometrist defense attorney will assist you in avoiding potential pitfalls and self-incrimination.

Gather Exonerating Evidence

You should gather and compile all evidence for the inquiry phase. These materials can change the trajectory of your case. It is not your word against the accusation in many CSOB inquiries. It is your supporting documentation versus the accusation.

Do not throw materials away or alter anything vital when compiling your documentation, even if the paperwork might not cast you positively. Hiding or discarding crucial materials is attempting to cover up a minor mistake with a bigger one.

Only Discuss the Legal Matter With Your Attorney

Revealing case details to your family members, neighbors, colleagues, friends, or acquaintances may lead to substantial issues.

Also, avoid ranting about your legal problems because every careless remark can have far-reaching consequences, including being used against you in your administrative hearing.

Prepare For the Long-term

Professional licensing boards in California are not just frustrating. They can take long periods to settle. Envision the CSOB’s investigations as a marathon instead of a sprint. Therefore, ensure you are ready for the long haul.

Contact Competent and Aggressive Legal Representation Near Me

While being a certified optometrist is noble, the profession depends heavily on public trust. That is why you must undergo years of schooling, field practice, and examinations before becoming licensed. Regrettably, all your dedication, money, time, and hard work could be undone if a person files a misconduct complaint against you. The California State Board of Optometry will investigate the matter and could impose disciplinary penalties, affecting your career. Whether the allegations are true or stem from misunderstandings, you need aggressive legal assistance.

San Jose License Attorney understands the complex nuance of California’s disciplinary systems and can gather evidence supporting your case, negotiate with the agency for less severe penalties or case dismissal, and, if necessary, defend you before the administrative law judge. In other words, we can increase your chances of protecting your career, license, livelihood, and future. Please contact us at 408-850-3740 to schedule your no-obligation initial consultation.