In Georgia, occupational therapists (OTs) and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) provide important care, support, and therapy to patients of all ages. From Atlanta, Augusta, and Athens to Macon, Marietta, Savannah, and all the communities in between, OTs and OTAs work in schools, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and medical offices, as well as through home visits. They help children and adults develop and strengthen the skills needed throughout their daily lives.
OTs and OTAs apply their considerable education, clinical training, and work experience to adapt their clients' environments and target new skill development so that they can maintain or improve their engagement with their work, community, friends, and family. OTs and OTAs witness many of their patients' most personal struggles, including their recovery from illness or injury and the adjustments they make for chronic disease or other life-altering conditions. In response, OTs and OTAs make it their responsibility to provide mobility, strength, and balance conditioning and to create and implement new strategies, tools, and other support to help their clients navigate daily life.
When you are focused on your patients and their outcomes, it may come as a surprise to learn that a complaint has been filed against you. Don't let your surprise derail your defense.
The Lento Law Firm defends OTs and OTAs accused of misconduct in Georgia. Regardless of the circumstances or allegations, our experienced attorneys are ready to protect you and fight for your license. To partner with our Professional License Defense Team, call our offices at 888-535-3686 or contact us online.
The Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapists
The Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy (the Board) manages the licensure and discipline of OTs and OTAs in Georgia. The six-person board protects citizens and promotes business with highly specialized and complex professional licensing and regulatory regimes.
Across Georgia, OTs and OTAs provide tailored interventions that enable individuals with an illness, injury, or disability to better navigate daily tasks. Because of the vulnerability of patients in need of therapies and interventions, the Board oversees the practice of occupational therapy and the licensing of OTs and OTAs, including initial license and renewal applications, continuing education requirements, and disciplinary investigations, hearings, and sanctions.
Georgia's License Disciplinary Procedure for Occupational Therapists
To protect the public and ensure patients receive critical care and therapeutic support, Georgia has developed robust license disciplinary procedures for OTs and OTAs. The complex process begins with a complaint. Most complaints are lodged by a patient, a patient's family member, a colleague, or a coworker. The Board may refuse to accept or process an anonymous complaint.
The complaint is reviewed and, if it falls within the jurisdiction of the Board, an investigation begins. An investigator may speak to the complainant and the accused licensed professional.
If, after the investigation, the Board determines that a licensing violation has occurred, the Board may sanction the licensee. Possible disciplinary sanctions include:
- Reprimand.
- Imposition of probationary conditions on the license.
- Suspension of license.
- Revocation of license.
- Fines.
If the accused licensee disagrees with the Board's determination and refuses to accept a consent order or agreement with the Board, it may be necessary to hold an administrative hearing. Administrative hearings are conducted under the Georgia Administrative Procedures Act. An administrative law judge (ALJ) presides over the hearing.
An administrative hearing resembles a trial; however, there is no jury. Witnesses give testimony and each side presents evidence to the ALJ. After the hearing, the ALJ issues a ruling and recommends disciplinary action for the Board. The Board reviews the ALJ's recommendation and issues its final decision, which may include a sanction.
The accused licensee may appeal the Board's final decision to the Superior Court in Bibb County, Georgia.
Georgia's license disciplinary process is adversarial and has far-reaching consequences. You have been trained to care and advocate for your patients, not navigate a contentious administrative hearing. A missed deadline or a careless statement can unnecessarily complicate your case or be used as evidence against you. A hastily accepted consent order may disrupt your career and life in ways you never imagined.
Instead of facing the accusations and the hearing alone, you can partner with the experienced attorneys of the Lento Law Firm. We can represent you and your best interests throughout the disciplinary process. Let our Professional License Defense Team create and implement a comprehensive defense strategy on your behalf.
The Adverse Impact of Disciplinary Proceedings
If you want to work as an OT or OTA in Georgia, you need a license. If you lose your license, you can no longer work. These stakes are too high to ignore. If your license is at risk because of a disciplinary complaint, investigation, or hearing, you must take action to defend yourself and protect your work.
A misconduct allegation alone can hurt your reputation, making it challenging to find new positions. An adverse disciplinary decision or sanction may end your current employment and make it difficult for you to continue to work in your chosen profession.
Accused professionals often discover that the license disciplinary process extracts a huge cost from their personal lives. It can be extremely difficult to manage the stress of an ongoing investigation, the contentious nature of an adversarial hearing, and the uncertainty of its outcome. Licensees accused of wrongdoing are left isolated with limited access to peers, colleagues, and mentors. Relationships with family and friends often suffer.
After years of education, clinical internships, and professional practice, you've built a career that you love. The work you do helps others and provides the financial foundation for your life and future. We understand what is at stake. You can depend on the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team to manage your license defense, just like your clients depend on you.
What Types of Conduct Can Lead to a Disciplinary Investigation, Hearing, and Sanction in Georgia?
In Georgia, OTs and OTAs are expected to practice in the best interest of the public and uphold professional standards that require competency and integrity. Any OT or OTA who has engaged in unprofessional conduct that has endangered or is likely to endanger the health, welfare, or safety of the public may have violated Georgia's law and regulations, risking a disciplinary sanction.
In Georgia, unprofessional conduct includes, but is not limited to:
- Using fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment of material facts to obtain or try to obtain a license.
- Practicing beyond the scope of the practice of occupational therapy.
- Providing substandard occupational therapy treatment due to a deliberate or negligent act or because of a failure to act.
- Failing to appropriately supervise an occupational therapy assistant or aide.
- Knowingly delegating responsibilities to someone without the knowledge, skills, or abilities to execute the responsibilities.
- Practicing while physically or mentally impaired.
- Having a license revoked or suspended, or another disciplinary action taken, or an application for licensure refused by another state, territory, or country.
- Using drugs or alcohol to the extent that the licensee's professional competence is jeopardized.
- Engaging in gross negligence during your practice of occupational therapy.
- Abandoning or neglecting a patient who requires immediate professional care, without making reasonable arrangements for continuing the required therapy.
- Being convicted of a crime that demonstrates whether the licensee should be entrusted to serve the public.
- Violating the Board's ethical standards.
Additionally, sexual misconduct is considered unprofessional conduct. Sexual misconduct includes:
- Engaging in or soliciting sexual relationships, whether consensual or nonconsensual, with a client or student.
- Making sexual advances, requesting sexual favors, or engaging in physical contact of a sexual nature with patients, clients, or students.
Health care, including occupational therapy, depends on the level of trust that exists between patients and practitioners. Patients, including those receiving occupational therapy, are often suffering. They depend on OTs and OTAs to help in their recovery from injury, illness, trauma, or other debilitating circumstances. Because patients are often vulnerable, the therapeutic relationship between an OT or OTA and their client must be free from manipulation, coercion, and dishonesty. In Georgia, the Board is committed to protecting patients and the general public from the improper and unprofessional behavior of OTs and OTAs.
For an OT or OTA who has committed their career to patient care, it can be devastating to learn that they have been accused of unprofessional conduct and overwhelming to attempt to untangle the license disciplinary rules and procedures.
If you face allegations of professional misconduct in Georgia, the Lento Law Firm can help you navigate a license disciplinary investigation. We can partner with you to defend your OT license and your livelihood.
How Can the Lento Law Firm Help During a License Disciplinary Investigation or Hearing?
In Georgia, the Board is not concerned with protecting you, your license, or your career. You don't have to face the Board alone. Let the Lento Law Firm be the dedicated defense team you need.
We can provide legal guidance and representation to you during disciplinary investigations, pre-trial conferences, and administrative hearings. After analyzing the complaint, the Lento Law Firm Team can develop a comprehensive license defense strategy to challenge the allegations against you. We can review Board and administrative hearing procedures to ensure that your notice and due process rights are upheld.
The Professional License Defense Team can work with you, helping you prepare for any interview, deposition, or hearing testimony in which you participate. Our attorneys can also advocate on your behalf during settlement negotiations and ensure that you understand the terms of any agreement.
It is often necessary that the accused licensee admit to some wrongdoing and agree to a sanction to obtain a consent order or settlement and avoid the uncertainty of an administrative hearing. Whether or not you should resolve a license complaint through a consent order depends on you, the facts of the case, the terms of the agreement, and your priorities. It is critically important that you understand the nuances of your agreement before you sign it. Our experienced attorneys can help you determine if a consent order or settlement is in your best interests.
If the complaint is forwarded to an ALJ as a contested case, the Lento Law Firm can advocate on your behalf before and during the hearing, applying our knowledge of Georgia law, regulation, and the rules of procedure. Additionally, if the Board issues a final decision and sanction to you, we can help develop an appellate or reinstatement strategy.
Protect Your License in Georgia
Georgia's administrative law courts are no place for the inexperienced, and you don't have to navigate a license complaint alone. Instead, partner with the Lento Law Firm.
The sooner you contact the Professional License Defense Team, the sooner we can help. Regardless of where you are in the disciplinary process, the experienced attorneys with the Lento Law Firm can review your case, let you know what options may be available, and help you develop and implement a strategy to challenge any allegation against you.
At the Lento Law Firm, we protect Georgia OTs and OTAs and their licenses. We understand that your work is both a profession and a calling. You play an essential role in delivering quality, responsive therapy to your patients in schools, medical offices, and hospitals.
Your patients need your knowledge and expertise to improve their health and well-being. And you need your license to provide this critical care.
It can be overwhelming to learn that a complaint has been filed against your license. You may not know what to do or be afraid of responding. Don't let fear make the situation worse. License complaints don't disappear on their own. To protect yourself and your future, build the defense team you need.
It is never too late to call the Lento Law Firm. Don't let a license complaint keep you from your patients. Across Georgia, we help occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants challenge complaints and navigate license investigations, hearings, and sanctions. The experienced attorneys with our Professional License Defense Team can help you, too. Call the Lento Law Firm at 888-535-3686 or complete a confidential online form to discuss your case.
