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The Unforeseen Consequences of a Criminal Conviction

By Andrew Zwerling
April 29, 2013

A physician is arrested and charged with a felony, and immediately solicits the assistance of a criminal defense attorney. Upon conferring with the attorney, the physician agrees to accept a plea to a misdemeanor charge, because it will enable the physician to avoid any possibility of imprisonment. The physician then pleads guilty before the criminal court judge and allocutes to facts sufficient to meet the criteria for the misdemeanor charge. He exits the courtroom, relieved that the criminal matter seemingly is behind him.'

Months later, the physician is notified by his state's medical licensing agency that he is being brought up on charges of professional misconduct and that action against his medical license is being sought. The charge: conviction of a misdemeanor. Worse, under the state's statutory scheme, by virtue of the conviction, the issue of the physician's culpability for professional misconduct is not, and cannot be, the subject of dispute; rather, the only issue to be resolved is the severity of the sanctions to be meted out by the state licensing authority. Anxious over the existing threat to his medical license, the physician then learns of other potential hazards flowing from his guilty plea, including possible exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The physician is baffled by this, because the alleged criminal acts did not involve patient care.'

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