As one of America's ten least populous states, Maine should embrace skilled professionals who choose to make the state their home, including pharmacists. Yet, well-meaning, hard-working pharmacy professionals often see their livelihoods threatened by overzealous disciplinary processes.
As a pharmacist, you work in a highly regulated industry. Maine officials, including the Maine Board of Pharmacy, may be sensitive to any perception of being lax with pharmacists. This is particularly true in light of a nationwide prescription drug epidemic. However, you should not be the victim of heavy-handed or unjust discipline.
Our attorneys serve professionals facing the stressful prospect of license suspensions, revocations, or other formal sanctions. We know how much you have done to earn your professional status, and we understand just as well what is at stake if your license suffers sanctions. Let us help.
Call the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team today at 888.535.3686 or contact us online. Let an experienced attorney fight for you.
Statutes That Allow Maine to Sanction Your License
Most states write into law the authority of disciplinary boards to sanction professionals (in life-changing ways), and Maine is no exception. We find the Maine Board of Pharmacy's power to discipline you enshrined in Maine Revised Statutes §13721. These statutes grant the Board of Pharmacy the power to:
- Evaluate applicants and issue licenses
- Renew (or not renew) pharmacists' licenses
- Inspect pharmacies and other facilities involved in the pharmaceutical framework
- Process complaints against pharmacists and pharmaceutical organizations
- Sanction pharmacists and organizations
There is no debate whether the Maine Board of Pharmacy has the statutory authority to impose sanctions against you or your license. However, the Board has a duty to wield its disciplinary power in a responsible manner, without bias or overzealousness.
Errors That Can Lead to an Unjust Ruling If You Don't Fight
Disciplinary boards are merely collections of people, which is to say they are fallible, sometimes catastrophically so. Some of the common issues our attorneys face when fighting for professionals like you are disciplinary bodies that:
- Do not understand or accurately apply the law
- Contain individuals who have a conflict of interest
- Do not truly extend the presumption of innocence to the pharmacist
- Do not negotiate consent orders in good faith
- Issue punishments that substantially outweigh the severity of the alleged offense
- Engage in other actions or failures that lead the pharmacist to suffer undue discipline
It will be our firm's role to immediately bring attention to such issues and ensure they do not infringe upon your right to due process.
The High (Potentially Irreparable) Cost of License Sanctions for Pharmacists
Disciplinary bodies can issue a range of immediate sanctions, including:
- Formal letters of reprimand
- Monetary penalties (fines)
- Suspension of your license (with potential for reinstatement in the future)
- Revocation of your licenses with or without possibility of reinstatement in the future
These sanctions are self-explanatory and obviously harmful. However, the sanction alone does not capture the harm you suffer when the Maine Board of Pharmacy issues formal penalties against you. Pharmacists without a valid license to practice, or those who suffer reputational harm, often endure:
- Financial hardship: Sanctions from the Maine Board of Pharmacy can have both direct and indirect financial consequences. A fine, for instance, causes an immediate financial loss. The suspension or revocation of your license will cause an even more severe financial loss, even if you don't experience that loss immediately (you will shortly after the ruling is issued).
- Psychological distress: The prospect of license-related discipline is distressing in its own right. Dealing with lost business, a period of unemployment, and other consequences of sanctions will almost certainly exacerbate your distress.
- Reputational damage: Whether or not the Board of Pharmacy's ruling is justified, sanctions against you will be tantamount to guilt in many people's eyes. Such reputational harm may directly affect your employment opportunities and earning potential as a pharmacist if you are even allowed to work.
- Loss of future career prospects: Whenever one's reputation takes a hit, it reduces the likelihood of fruitful future career opportunities. This adds further insult to the immediate financial consequences you face due to license sanctions.
Our attorneys have helped many pharmacists avoid such dire consequences. We understand what is at stake with your license defense, and we will work urgently to clear your name of pending allegations.
If your case involves an allegation involving the mishandling of controlled substances, you could even be vulnerable to criminal charges. By proving your case to the Maine Board of Pharmacy, you may lessen the likelihood of authorities pursuing criminal proceedings.
Grounds for Pharmacist License Sanctions in Maine
Maine Revised Statutes §13742-A lists several infractions that can trigger the disciplinary process and ultimately lead to sanctions. These violations include:
- Misuse of alcohol, drugs, or other substances
- Conviction of a criminal offense that calls into question one's fitness to practice pharmacy
- The diagnosis of a psychological or physical condition that calls into question your ability to do your job effectively
- Breaching patients' confidentiality
- Engaging in unprofessional conduct with superiors or peers
- Practicing pharmacy without a valid license
- Engaging in any other act or committing any other failure the Maine Board of Pharmacy considers a violation of professional conduct
Too often, a mere (and potentially baseless) allegation can trigger disciplinary proceedings. If a pharmacist naively assumes that the truth will win out on its own, these false allegations can prove ruinous.
What to Expect from Maine's Adjudication Process
Maine does not make information about its disciplinary procedures readily available, but most states follow a similar path for adjudicating complaints against pharmacists. The process ahead likely includes the following:
Receipt and Notification of a Complaint
You should receive written notice that a complaint was filed against you. This notice may explain the details of the allegation(s) and inform you of the next steps in the adjudication process.
Investigation of the Complaint
Disciplinary boards typically assign an investigator who at least has the appearance of independence and neutrality. This investigator may:
- Interview the complainant
- Interview you
- Interview witnesses whose testimony may be relevant to the case
- Gather all evidence that is relevant to the investigation
- Making a decision based on their findings
The investigator will likely use the preponderance of evidence standard to issue their opinion. This means that they will determine whether it is more likely than not that you committed the alleged infraction or not.
Your lawyer can protect you throughout the investigative process. They will ensure the investigator has all the information that benefits your defense while preventing any misunderstandings that could create the perception of responsibility for alleged wrongdoing.
Publication of the Investigator's Findings
The investigator may publish their findings and opinions in a formal report. This report will likely make its way to the Maine Board of Pharmacy, which may then:
- Dismiss the case against you, likely in conjunction with the investigator's finding that there is not enough evidence to proceed
- Determine that you are most likely responsible for the offense, in which case it may pursue a few courses of action
The dismissal of the case against you is likely the best-case scenario. Your attorney from our team will do everything in their power to ensure the investigation goes your way.
Opportunity to Negotiate a Consent Order
If the Maine Board of Pharmacy determines it is most likely you are responsible for the alleged offense(s), it may grant you the chance to negotiate a consent order. A consent order typically:
- Contains an admission of wrongdoing by the pharmacist in question
- Outlines sanctions that parties have agreed upon
- Explains any conditions for the pharmacist to move past the sanctions (like conditions for license reinstatement)
A consent order can be an appropriate course of action, but not for all. You may be intent on clearing your name without accepting any sanctions, and our team respects that.
A Hearing
The Board may conduct a hearing to:
- Gather all information about the case, including any details not captured during the investigation
- Give the pharmacist the opportunity to defend themselves
- Form the basis of a final decision
Your attorney is likely permitted to represent you during a hearing. They will present and question witnesses, enter evidence into consideration, and make an impassioned argument in your defense. If the circumstances call for it, they may request leniency from those who will render the final decision in your case.
A Ruling by the Maine Board of Pharmacy
Following a hearing, the presiding board members will issue a decision. This could include a finding of responsibility and issuance of sanctions. Conversely, the decision could be that there is not enough evidence to determine you are responsible for the allegations posed against you.
Appeal
An appeal may not be necessary in your case, as our attorneys will work to ensure the dismissal of your charges as soon as possible. However, if you become the subject of an unfavorable ruling for any reason, our team will file an appeal right away.
We may also have legal options for fighting an unjust ruling against you. Unwarranted sanctions can cause measurable financial harm and irreparable reputational harm, so we will fight an unjust ruling by any means available.
Why Every Pharmacist Facing Sanctions Should Hire an Attorney from Our Team
Aside from health, family, and faith, one's career may be the most important element of their life. This is the means by which you earn a living, support dependents, find professional fulfillment, and form part of your identity.
Our attorneys believe that even the slightest sanction has serious ramifications, though there are cases where accepting a reduced penalty makes sense. Hire an attorney from the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team to fight for you because:
- You have too much to lose (to go it alone): You have already read about the steep consequences of license sanctions. Your earning power, career, reputation, and psychological well-being could be at stake. Now is the time to bring all hands on deck in defense of your license.
- Our experience holds value: We have navigated the professional disciplinary process many times, including on behalf of pharmacists. Our familiarity with these processes, including the challenges and hazards they entail, holds concrete value for pharmacists like you.
- We stand between you and potential rights violations: Having an attorney leading your defense ensures nobody can talk you into a harmful consent order, deceive you into making damaging statements, or impose any other rights violation.
- We exhaust appeals and other legal measures: Our intent is to secure the just outcome you deserve. Whether this comes after the investigation (via dismissal), requires an appeal, or requires further legal action, we are ready.
Pharmacists' day-to-day responsibilities do not evaporate once they receive notice of a complaint. You may still be working, have a busy personal life, and shoulder other responsibilities. While your license defense must be a high priority, it may not be a responsibility you can do justice without help.
Allow our team to fight for your reputation and license like they are our own. That's the mentality we apply to every case we handle. We will oversee every detail of your defense, from gathering exculpatory evidence to accompanying you to case-related meetings, representing you at a hearing, and leading your appeal.
We Know Maine
The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team offers nationwide legal services, and this has made us familiar with Maine. We serve clients throughout the state and are no strangers to:
- Portland
- Lewiston
- Bangor
- South Portland
- Auburn
- Scarborough
- Sanford
- Biddeford
- Saco
- Westbrook
- Windham
We serve the entire state, so contact our team wherever in Maine you are facing potentially life-changing license sanctions.
Call the Lento Law Law Firm Professional License Defense Team Today
License discipline issues are time-sensitive in every way, so it is vital you not wait to retain a capable attorney. Call the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team today at 888.535.3686 or contact us online. Let an experienced attorney fight for you.
