What To Do When Your Professional License is Threatened

As a licensed professional, whether you work as a doctor, dentist, lawyer, chiropractor, realtor, appraiser, or insurance agent, you had to undergo specialized education and substantial training to earn your license. Your ability to work in your career field of choice, provide for your family, and earn a living means everything.

However, there are times when certain issues arise or events transpire that can threaten your professional reputation, your working status, or even your professional license. It all begins with an initial investigation, often by the Attorney General’s office.  We see this happen frequently after a complaint is reported (or filed) with a regulatory agency by the licensed professional’s patient, client, or customer.

Whether the complaint made against you is credible or not, once the agency steps in, it is common for an investigation to be initiated. This is often triggered with a written notification issued to the professional license holder (you) in the form of a letter from the governing agency or the Attorney General. These types of written notices are often vague as far as the factual allegations go, but they must be taken seriously, and responded to in a timely manner.

If you ever find yourself facing the potential wrath of an administrative agency, you should:

• Immediately call an attorney to discuss your situation. We strongly recommend hiring an attorney to represent your personal and professional interests and to put forward an aggressive defense on your behalf.

• Do not respond substantively to the inquiry until you have talked to an attorney. You may wish to acknowledge receipt of the inquiry, but hold off on discussing the matter or providing information until you have a chance to discuss things with your attorney.

• Gather any documentation related to the complaint or grievance filed by your patient/client/customer, taking care to properly redact any confidential information that is protected by law.

• Maintain any documentation or communications surrounding the incident. Do not delete or destroy any information, documents, files, or other communications, even if you think they may be damaging to you.

• Remain calm, professional, and rational while navigating the situation.

• Do not talk about the complaint or grievance with others.

• Do not post anything publicly regarding the allegations on social media or elsewhere.

• Do not contact the person who may have made the report/complaint/grievance with the administrative agency.

• Call The Nice Law Firm. We are experienced in handling these types of matters and will step in to aggressively defend your reputation, your business, and your professional license. Administrative agencies often do not like dealing with attorneys; they instantly know they must follow the rules and it makes their job more challenging.  This is in your best interest.  Hiring an attorney to protect your interests will ensure that you navigate the situation like the professional that you are.

Contact us today!