Notice of Proposed Discipline and Request for Hearing
On September 13, 2019, the Oregon Medical Board issued a Notice of Proposed Discipline against a physician and, unfortunately, the physician missed the 21-day deadline to file her Request for Hearing. The physician’s Request for Hearing was filed 11 days late. The Oregon Medical Board found the physician to be in default and issued a Default Final Order refusing to grant the physician a hearing, and instead revoking the physician’s Oregon medical license (the physician was also licensed in Washington and California).
Request for Reconsideration by the Oregon Medical Board
On behalf of the physician, I petitioned the Oregon Medical Board to reconsider its revocation order, asking that the physician’s case instead be allowed to proceed to a hearing on the merits of the case. The Oregon Medical Board allowed reconsideration, but did not change its opinion. The Oregon Medical Board instead issued a Default Final Order on Reconsideration, affirming its earlier order revoking the physician’s medical license without a hearing.
Request for Judicial Review by the Oregon Court of Appeals
I next petitioned the Oregon Court of Appeals for judicial review of the Oregon Medical Board’s Default Final Order on Reconsideration. On December 21, 2021, I filed the physician’s opening brief in the Oregon Court of Appeals, raising the following questions:
1. Whether the physician’s 11-day delay in requesting a hearing should be excused due to the combination of circumstances confronting the physician, when those circumstances establish that her delay was reasonable;
2. Whether the Oregon Medical Board’s order revoking the physician’s medical license was legally insufficient when: (a) it was issued in the absence of a prima facie case; (b) it was not supported by substantial evidence; and (c) it was not explained by substantial reason;
3. Whether the Oregon Medical Board violated the Oregon Administrative Procedures Act (APA) by revoking the physician’s medical license when: (a) the kinds of allegations against the physician did not result in revocation in other cases involving similar conduct in the preceding five years, and (b) the Oregon Medical Board failed to explain this inconsistency from its previous practice; and
4. Whether the Oregon Medical Board deprived the physician of due process when it revoked her medical license.
The Oregon Medical Board’s Response
Less than two months later, without ever filing a response brief, the Oregon Medical Board withdrew its order revoking the physician’s medical license for further consideration. And two months after that, the Oregon Medical Board issued its second order on reconsideration, but this time the Oregon Medical Board ordered that the physician’s case proceed to a hearing on its merits. The hearing is scheduled for summer of 2023, more than three years after the Oregon Medical Board issued its first order revoking the physician’s medical license, an order the Oregon Medical Board chose not to defend on appeal.