If you are working as a psychiatrist in the Jackson, Mississippi area, you know better than anybody else the daily challenges you face when it comes to both caring for your patients and managing your practice. Whether you work in Jackson itself or in a nearby town such as Madison, Pearl, or Vicksburg, you are likely already aware that Mississippi faces a shortage of licensed psychiatrists as compared to the rest of the country; one recent report ranked the state 50th out of all of the US states and the District of Columbia in the number of residents per psychiatrist.
This is why it is important to pay close attention if the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure notifies you that someone has filed a misconduct complaint against you. Depending on the nature of the allegations, your license could be at risk along with your ability to care for the mental health needs of your patients, not to mention your ability to earn a living. The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team is here to help you protect your medical license and your future. Call us at 888.535.3686, or fill out our online contact form so we can schedule a confidential consultation to learn more about the allegations you are facing, and to explain how we can help.
Psychiatrists in the Greater Jackson Area
Most psychiatrists in the Greater Jackson area are either in Jackson itself or in nearby towns such as Madison and Pearl, as well as in Vicksburg. Patients in more rural towns may need to drive an hour or more to receive in-person care, which represents a significant commitment on their part. And of course, by providing that needed psychiatric care, you also provide an enormously important service to your patients and to the community as a whole. If your license is threatened by allegations of misconduct, you owe it to yourself and to your existing (and future) patients to take effective steps to defend yourself.
Of course, losing the ability to practice psychiatry in Mississippi also means you lose your ability to make a living as a psychiatrist. Because psychiatry tends to be a high-income profession, it can be extremely difficult to replace that level of income by finding another job in another field. But other types of sanctions can also affect your practice. Any public disciplinary sanction will become part of your record, which can be searched by anybody through a website maintained by the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure. Your listing provides information about your medical school and where you practice, but it will also show public documents relating to any disciplinary actions that have been taken against you.
Anyone who uses the database to look up your information can see any disciplinary sanctions you’ve received and what the reasons were for those sanctions. Both existing and potential patients may use the online database to help them make decisions about psychiatric care, and having a public record showing that you have been sanctioned can, of course, make it more difficult for you to attract and keep patients.
Note as well that if you are licensed in any other state and are disciplined in that state, your public listing in Mississippi can reflect and will often mirror that discipline. In other words, if you are licensed in Louisiana and are placed on probation in Louisiana, the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure may open their own case against you, and you may be placed on probation with the same terms and conditions in Mississippi as well.
The best way to protect yourself against unwarranted sanctions is to respond promptly and effectively to a notice that you have been accused of any kind of professional misconduct. And the best way to do that is with the help of one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team. This is what our attorneys do on a daily basis for licensed professionals, including psychiatrists, all across the country. We know how to gather the information you will need for your defense; how to use that information to build a strong defense; and what needs to be done and when, so that you don’t risk missing a deadline or an opportunity to protect your license.
Disciplinary Actions Against Psychiatrists in the Greater Jackson Area
There are many reasons why a psychiatrist working in the Jackson area can face discipline from the MSBML. Some of the more common reasons include:
- Substance abuse. Psychiatrists can face discipline for “Habitual personal use” of narcotic or other types of addictive drugs, as well as of “intoxicating liquors” if consumed “to an extent which affects personal competency.”
- Prescription issues. A psychiatrist who prescribes a narcotic or other type of addictive drug can be disciplined if they prescribe it for an improper purpose.
- Criminal conviction. Any conviction for violating a state or federal law related to the possession, distribution, or use of any narcotic drug or controlled substance can result in the psychiatrist being disciplined by the MSBML. In addition, a psychiatrist can face sanctions if they are convicted of a crime “involving moral turpitude.”
- Unprofessional conduct. This covers a range of impermissible conduct, including allowing an “unlicensed person” to practice psychiatry; committing “any dishonorable or unethical conduct likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public”; and making “flamboyant claims” about the psychiatrist’s “professional excellence.”
- Discipline in another state. As mentioned above, actions taken against the psychiatrist’s license in another state can result in discipline by the MSMBL in Mississippi.
- Failing to cooperate with the MSBML. A psychiatrist who does not provide the MSBML with requested information, including during any disciplinary investigation, can be disciplined for failing to do so.
It is important to keep in mind that not every complaint that the MSBML receives will result in an investigation. The first step the Board takes when it receives a complaint against a psychiatrist is to consider whether it has jurisdiction over the type of misconduct alleged in the complaint. If the complaint does not state a potential violation of the Mississippi Medical Practice Act, then it is likely to be dismissed. For example, a complaint that the psychiatrist’s staff was rude to the patient is not likely to result in a disciplinary investigation. Similarly, complaints about billing disputes that do not allege fraud on the part of the psychiatrist may also be dismissed.
When a complaint does appear to be about potential misconduct that the MSBML is responsible for, it will generally assign the matter to an investigator. In almost all cases, the investigator will interview the person who filed the complaint as well as the psychiatrist named in the complaint. Depending on the allegations, the investigator may also question colleagues, the family of the person who filed the complaint, and any other people who may have useful information related to the allegations in the complaint.
Help During Investigations
An investigation can go on for months. As part of the process, you will be notified about the complaint and will have a chance to submit a written response. That response can be very important to your case. Providing a comprehensive response that includes support for your defense can do a lot to help resolve your disciplinary matter. This is where working with the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can be particularly helpful. Our attorneys know what it takes to draft an effective response to misconduct allegations, and we will work with you to pull together the facts and arguments that will be most helpful for your situation.
Another thing we can do is prepare you for your interview with the investigator. As a psychiatrist, you are used to being the person who is asking the questions. What you are probably not used to is being in a situation where someone else is asking you questions that are designed to gather information that may later be used to sanction you. As you might guess, it’s a very different experience – but one we can prepare you for. We can also be there by your side when your interview happens, to help make sure that you only answer fair, clear, understandable questions.
There are some cases where our attorneys may recommend conducting our own investigation into the allegations made against you. This can happen if we suspect that the MSBML’s investigator is overlooking information that could help your case, or if they have simply missed that information entirely. When we uncover information that helps your defense, we can bring it to the Board’s attention as part of our efforts to defend you against the allegations you are facing.
After the Investigation
When the investigation is complete, the investigator will prepare a report for the MSBML to review. There are three things that can happen from this point.
The first, and most favorable in terms of the accused psychiatrist, is that the MSBML decides there is no or not enough evidence of misconduct, and closes the case. The Board may still take some non-disciplinary actions against the psychiatrist, but there will be no public record of sanctions.
The second way that the allegations against the psychiatrist may be resolved is for the MSBML and the accused psychiatrist to enter into a consent agreement or other form of settlement. And the third way to resolve disciplinary allegations is for the matter to be set for a formal hearing.
As a practical matter, most disciplinary actions against psychiatrists in the Greater Jackson area will settle. There are some benefits to settling with the MSBML versus taking the matter to a hearing. One, the outcome is certain; any sanctions are agreed upon as part of the settlement process. Two, settlements typically happen more quickly than hearings, so the entire matter is no longer hanging undecided over the psychiatrist’s head. And three, settlements can be negotiated.
This last point is particularly important: settlements can be negotiated. When you have an experienced attorney from the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team on your side, you will benefit from their years of experience helping other professionals in similar situations. That includes experience negotiating effective settlements that are designed to protect the client’s license – and ability to practice – to the greatest extent possible given the facts of their case. There is no substitute for this kind of experience, and when you work with us, all of that experience will be used to help you negotiate a favorable outcome to your case.
Cases that do not settle will proceed to a formal hearing before the MSBML. At that hearing, you will have a chance to present your side of the story, including through your own testimony and the testimony of witnesses you call on your behalf. You will also be able to cross-examine witnesses brought to testify against you. But the best way to defend yourself at the hearing stage is to be working with an experienced professional license defense attorney. This is where the LLF National Law Firm comes in. Our Professional License Defense Team regularly helps clients involved in disciplinary hearings, and we are ready to fight for your rights and defend your license if your case is set for a formal hearing.
After the hearing is over, the Board will issue a ruling. That ruling may be in your favor, in which case the matter against you will be dismissed. If the Board rules against you, however, it will also impose some sort of sanction on you.
Potential Outcomes
When it comes to possible sanctions, the MSBML has a lot of discretion. There is no fixed schedule that matches a particular type of sanction with a particular type of misconduct. Some of the potential outcomes include the following:
- Probation. The terms of any probation are completely up to the Board. It may, for example, require the psychiatrist to take and complete a continuing education course covering a topic related to the allegations made against the psychiatrist.
- Practice Restrictions. The psychiatrist may continue to practice psychiatry, but is restricted from exercising certain privileges that would normally be allowed. For example, the psychiatrist may not be allowed to prescribe or administer controlled substances.
- Rehabilitation. A psychiatrist experiencing problems with substance abuse may be required to complete a course of treatment before being allowed to resume their practice.
- Suspension. The psychiatrist’s license is suspended for a set period of time, or until certain conditions set by the Board are met.
- Revocation. The psychiatrist’s medical license is revoked permanently.
Mississippi law also allows the MSBML to take “any other action” in relation to the psychiatrist’s license “as the board may deem proper under the circumstances.” This allows the Board to craft different sanctions depending on the nature of the case.
The LLF National Law Firm Can Defend Your License in the Greater Jackson Area
Your medical license is the key to your ability to practice psychiatry in the Greater Jackson area. Whether you do so in Jackson itself, or in Madison, Pearl, Vicksburg, or another nearby town, you need your license to be able to provide your patients with the mental health care they need. And with that need being particularly high throughout the state of Mississippi, it is important that you do everything you can to keep your license active if you have been accused of misconduct.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team is here to help you do that. The best way to be sure of protecting your ability to practice psychiatry is to contact us as soon as you learn that someone has filed a misconduct complaint against you. We will be there by your side from the start, to make sure you understand what is happening, that you don’t miss any deadlines, and that you have the strongest defense possible based on the facts of your particular case.
Our attorneys do this regularly for professionals, including psychiatrists, all across the country. We know the laws, regulations, rules, and procedures that apply in these cases. We also know the kinds of evidence and arguments that work when it comes to mounting a strong defense. Let us help you protect your rights and defend your license and your livelihood. The sooner we are on the job, the more quickly we can begin to gather information, protect your rights, and take much of the burden of dealing with the investigation and any complaint off your shoulders.
You can reach us by calling 888.535.3686 or by submitting our online contact form. Once you contact us, we will schedule a confidential consultation where you can tell us more about your case, and we can explain how the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can help.