The medical board may impose a rehabilitation order on an applicant or license holder, but it cannot do so if it receives a valid complaint before the proposed order is signed. It must also determine whether a related standard-of-care violation occurred before imposing the order.
Sec. 206.305. REHABILITATION ORDER. (a) The medical board, through an agreed order or after a contested case proceeding, may impose a rehabilitation order on an applicant, as a prerequisite for issuing a license, or on a license holder based on: (1) the person's intemperate use of drugs or alcohol directly resulting from habituation or addiction caused by medical care or treatment provided by a physician; (2) the person's intemperate use of drugs or alcohol during the five years preceding the date of the report that could adversely affect the person's ability to safely practice as a surgical assistant, if the person: (A) reported the use; (B) has not previously been the subject of a substance abuse related order of the medical board; and (C) has not committed a violation of the standard of care as a result of the intemperate use of drugs or alcohol; (3) a judgment by a court that the person is of unsound mind; or (4) the results of a mental or physical examination, or an admission by the person, indicating that the person suffers from a potentially dangerous limitation or an inability to practice as a surgical assistant with reasonable skill and safety because of illness or any other physical or mental condition. (b) The medical board may not issue an order under this section if, before the individual signs the proposed order, the board receives a valid complaint with regard to the individual based on the individual's intemperate use of drugs or alcohol in a manner affecting the standard of care. (c) The medical board must determine whether an individual has committed a standard of care violation described by Subsection (a)(2) before imposing an order under this section. (d) The medical board may disclose a rehabilitation order to a local or statewide private medical or surgical assistant association only as provided by Section 206.3075. Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1014, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 269 (S.B. 419), Sec. 4.04, eff. September 1, 2005.