Philadelphia Healthcare Licensing Blog

In terms of one's career, allegations of sexual misconduct are very powerful and often have the potential to completely derail a career that one has worked so hard to build. This is especially true for those whose job responsibilities put them in potentially sensitive situations from time to time, such as medical professionals who have to provide patients with various forms of care. Unfortunately, some medical professionals have been falsely accused of sexual misconduct and other forms of mistreatment, which has cost them their medical license and completely jeopardized their career. At the Law Offices of Brian E. Quinn, we know how tough this is for medical professionals in Pennsylvania and we strive to provide people in this position with helpful information.

When these allegations arise, people often take the word of the person who is filing a complaint over the word of those who are accused. Medical professionals who are accused of mistreating a patient, especially if the accusations are sexual in nature, often have a very hard time defending themselves and a very harsh stigma surrounds these allegations. Not only could such a case cause a medical professional to lose his or her license, but it often spells disaster in terms of their ability to work in this field ever again.

As a medical professional in Pennsylvania, you need to stay up-to-date on medications and treatments that could help your patients. This means you may often meet with representatives from pharmaceutical manufacturers who want to advertise new medications and encourage you to write prescriptions for them. Even though many forms of pharmaceutical marketing are legal, kickback schemes are not. Becoming involved in a pharmaceutical kickback scheme could lead to severe penalties, including the loss of your license.

Social work in Pennsylvania can place individuals in dangerous situations before, during and after therapy sessions with clients. Failure to adhere to the code of ethics outlined for the profession can cause your license to be revoked by the state. A suspended license prevents a social worker from counseling or working with patients or clients in the state.

For close to three decades, I have been representing physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers in disciplinary actions. In the past few years, I have noticed an increase in my caseload _for physicians with alcohol related incidents or arrests. A common theme among these cases is the stress doctors' face in their daily practices.

Electronic records, managed care, cost cutting by insurance companies all lead to increased stress in the practice of medicine. I recently had a case with a physician who closed her practice due to the constant stress she faced which resulted in loss of sleep, depression, and suicidal ideations. I think it is so important for physicians, and all healthcare workers, to build into their lives stress reducing techniques, time off and vacations in order to maintain a balance.