17-95-409. Denial, suspension, or revocation — Grounds — Definition.

17-95-409. Denial, suspension, or revocation — Grounds — Definition. (a)(1) The Arkansas State Medical Board may revoke an existing license, impose penalties as listed in § 17-95-410, or refuse to issue a license in the event the holder or applicant, as the case may be, has committed any of the acts or offenses defined in this section to be unprofessional conduct. (2) The words “unprofessional conduct”, as used in the Arkansas Medical Practices Act, § 17-95-201 et seq., § 17-95-301 et seq., and § 17-95-401 et seq., mean: (A)(i) Conviction of a felony listed under § 17-3-102. (ii) The judgment of any such conviction, unless pending upon appeal, shall be conclusive evidence of unprofessional conduct; (B) Resorting to fraud, misrepresentation, or deception in applying for or securing a license to practice medicine, in taking the examination for the license, or in seeking a renewal of a license; (C) Aiding or abetting an unlicensed person to practice medicine; (D) Procuring or aiding or abetting in procuring a wrongful and criminal abortion; (E) Violation of the laws of the United States or the State of Arkansas regulating the possession, distribution, or use of narcotic or controlled drugs classed in Schedules I-V of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 or the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, § 5-64-101 et seq., including any amendments thereto; (F) Habitual indulgence in the use of alcohol to such an extent as to render himself or herself incapable of exercising that degree of skill and judgment in the treatment of his or her patients which the moral trust and confidence in him or her demands; (G) Grossly negligent or ignorant malpractice; (H) Habitual, intemperate, or excessive use of narcotics or of any other habit-forming drugs; (I) Representing to a patient that a manifestly incurable condition of sickness, disease, or injury can be permanently cured; (J) Becoming physically or mentally incompetent to practice medicine to such an extent as to endanger the public; (K) Insanity or mental disease, if evidenced by an adjudication or by voluntary commitment to an institution for treatment of a mental disease or as determined by an examination conducted by three (3) impartial psychiatrists retained by the Arkansas State Medical Board; (L) Soliciting for patronage; advertising for patronage in a false, fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading manner; advertising the quality of medical services; or advertising illegal procedures and practices; (M) Offering, undertaking, attempting, or agreeing to cure or treat disease by a secret method, procedure, treatment, or medicine or representing, directly or indirectly, that he or she can treat, operate on, or prescribe for any human condition by a method, means, or procedure which he or she refuses to divulge upon demand to the Arkansas State Medical Board; (N) The willful betraying of a professional secret; (O) Persistent and flagrant overcharging or overtreating of patients; (P) Violating a rule of the Arkansas State Medical Board; (Q) Violating a term of probation or an order previously imposed by the Arkansas State Medical Board; (R) Having been found in violation of a statute or a rule governing the practice of medicine by a medical licensing authority or agency of another state; and (S) Committing an ethical violation as determined by the Arkansas State Medical Board by rule. (b)(1)(A) Upon receipt of a final order from another agency of the State of Arkansas or a final order from a court of this state after all appeal rights have been exhausted that finds a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state has breached the loan contract entered into by the physician under § 6-81-701 et seq., the Arkansas State Medical Board may suspend the license of that physician. (B) The suspension shall be for a period of years equivalent to the number of years that the recipient is obligated to practice medicine in a rural area but has not so practiced and until the loan with interest together with any civil money penalties, as reduced by each full year of medical practice according to the terms of the loan contract, is paid in full. (2) Upon notification from the Dean of the College of Medicine of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Secretary of the Department of Health that exigent circumstances warrant a waiver of the suspension, the Arkansas State Medical Board shall reinstate the holder's license. (3) In deciding whether to suspend a holder's medical license, the Arkansas State Medical Board, at its discretion, may adopt any or all recommendations, findings of fact, and conclusions of law issued or adopted by the Arkansas Rural Medical Practice Student Loan and Scholarship Board, an arbitrator, or a court.