If you're a physician, it's a scary proposition even to think about the prospect of losing your license to practice. After all, you've invested many years and thousands of dollars into your education and training, not to mention the years you spent in your residency and treating patients. But the actual long-term consequences of losing your license—or even having your license temporarily suspended—can be even more profound than you realize. It's certainly more than the cost of obtaining the license itself, or even the cost of hiring a professional license defense attorney to help you defend it. If you're a doctor who is under investigation but not taking things too seriously, let's take a closer look at several factors to determine what losing your license might actually cost you.

Lost Revenue

In 2021, the average physician's salary was $260,000/year--a respectable number by any calculation. If you make anywhere near that average, you need to consider that losing your license will put a significant dent in your earnings. Even if you're able to find work in another field--which may be difficult given the fact that you're a doctor with no license to practice medicine--you'll likely make much less than you did as a physician. If your license is temporarily suspended while the medical board investigates you (which happens quite frequently), that means a 6-month investigation would cost you a minimum of $130,000 (provided you were able to keep your license). Having your license permanently revoked is much more costly in the long run. Suppose you had 20 years left until retirement when losing your license: your lost revenue over that time could easily exceed $5 million.

Lost Tuition/Overwhelming Debt

You likely spent between $250,000-$330,000 in tuition to attend four years of medical school (not to mention the extra $150,000-$250,000 on your undergrad education). If you're like many physicians, you relied heavily on student loans to get through med school because your salary could easily cover it. If you lose your license, you lose that high salary—but you still have to pay the debt, plus interest. So in addition to your lost revenue, it's reasonable to add on another $500,000 or so in lost tuition, plus whatever interest you're paying in student loans.

Loss of Reputation/Slowed Growth

For the sake of argument, suppose you survived the medical board's investigation and were allowed to keep your license—but they imposed other penalties such as fines, probation, and a reprimand on your record. Not only did you likely lose some patients during the investigation (especially if your license was suspended), but finding new patients or a new clinic to work for will now be more challenging because of the publicly searchable disciplinary actions against you. In other words, your reputation has been damaged, and you'll have to work harder and longer to rebuild it. As a result, your career growth will be slowed, and you may never achieve the same level of success or earnings as you would have otherwise.

To summarize, the actual cost of losing your medical license—or even having it suspended for a short time—can be far more significant than you think. The true amount of loss may, in fact, be incalculable. The bottom line is that if you find yourself under investigation, the cost of hiring an experienced professional license attorney to save your license and negotiate for dismissal of the complaint will be far less than what it will cost you in the long run if your medical license is revoked. Don't wait until the situation is dire to reach out for help. Contact attorney Joseph D. Lento today and the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at (888) 535-3686 to discuss your options.