GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	3 

SENATE BILL 341*
Introduced and Referred 3/11/93
Judiciary I Committee Substitute Adopted 4/27/93

Short Title:  Bd. of Med. Examiners.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  Calendar 4/28/93
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February 24, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE AND TO INCREASE THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS AND INCLUDE MORE PUBLIC MEMBERS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 90-14(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The Board shall have the power to deny, annul, suspend, or revoke a license, or other authority to practice medicine in this State, issued by the Board to any person who has been found by the Board to have committed any of the following acts or conduct, or for any of the following reasons:
(1)	Immoral or dishonorable conduct.
(2)	Producing or attempting to produce an abortion contrary to law.
(3)	Made false statements or representations to the Board, or who has willfully concealed from the Board material information in connection with his application for a license.
(4)	Repealed by Session Laws 1977, c. 838, s. 3.
(5)	Being unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to patients by reason of illness, drunkenness, excessive use of alcohol, drugs, chemicals, or any other type of material or by reason of any physical or mental abnormality. The Board is empowered and authorized to require a physician licensed by it to submit to a mental or physical  examination by physicians designated by the Board before or after charges may be presented against him, and the results of examination shall be admissible in evidence in a hearing before the Board.
(6)	Unprofessional conduct, including, but not limited to, departure from, or the failure to conform to, the standards of acceptable and prevailing medical practice, or the ethics  of the medical profession, irrespective of whether or not a patient is injured thereby, or the committing of any act contrary to honesty, justice, or good morals, whether the same is committed in the course of his practice or otherwise, and whether committed within or without North Carolina. The Board shall not revoke the license of or deny a license to a person solely because of that person's practice of a therapy that is experimental, nontraditional, or that departs from acceptable and prevailing medical practices unless, by competent evidence, the Board can establish that the treatment has a safety risk greater than the prevailing treatment or that the treatment is generally not effective.
(7)	Conviction in any court of a crime involving moral turpitude, or the violation of a law involving the practice of medicine, or a conviction of a felony; provided that a felony conviction shall be treated as provided in subsection (c) of this section.
(8)	By false representations has obtained or attempted to obtain practice, money or anything of value.
(9)	Has advertised or publicly professed to treat human ailments under a system or school of treatment or practice other than that for which he has been educated.
(10)	Adjudication of mental incompetency, which shall automatically suspend a license unless the Board orders otherwise.
(11)	Lack of professional competence to practice medicine with a reasonable degree of skill and safety for patients. In this connection the Board may consider repeated acts of a physician indicating his failure to properly treat a patient and may require such physician to submit to inquiries or examinations, written or oral, by members of the Board or by  other physicians licensed to practice medicine in this State, as the Board deems necessary to determine the professional qualifications of such licensee.
(12)	Promotion of the sale of drugs, devices, appliances or goods for a patient, or providing services to a patient, in such a manner as to exploit the patient for financial gain of the physician; and upon a finding of the exploitation for financial gain, the Board may order restitution be made to the payer of the bill, whether the patient or the insurer, by the physician; provided that a determination of the amount of restitution shall be based on credible testimony in the record.
(13)	Suspension or revocation of a license to practice medicine in any other state, or territory of the United States, or other country.
(14)	The failure to respond, within a reasonable period of time and in a reasonable manner as determined by the Board, to inquiries from the Board concerning any matter affecting the license to practice medicine.
For any of the foregoing reasons, the Board may deny the issuance of a license to an applicant or revoke a license issued to him, may suspend such a license for a period of time, and may impose conditions upon the continued practice after such period of suspension as the Board may deem advisable, may limit the accused physician's practice of medicine with respect to the extent, nature or location of his practice as the Board deems advisable. The Board may, in its discretion and upon such terms and conditions and for such period of time as it may prescribe, restore a license so revoked or rescinded."
Sec. 2. G.S. 90-2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 90-2.  Board of Examiners.
(a)	In order to properly regulate the practice of medicine and surgery for the benefit and protection of the people of North Carolina, there is established a Board of Medical Examiners of the State of North Carolina. The Board shall consist of 12 members.
(1)	Seven of the members shall be duly licensed physicians elected and nominated to the Governor by the North Carolina Medical Society. 
(2)	Of the remaining five members, all to be appointed by the Governor, at least three shall be public members and at least one shall be a physician extender.  A public member shall not be a health care provider nor the spouse of a health care provider. For purposes of board membership, 'health care provider' means any licensed health care professional and any agent or employee of any health care institution, health care insurer, health care professional school, or a member of any allied health profession. For purposes of this section, a person enrolled in a program to prepare him to be a licensed health care professional or an allied health professional shall be deemed a health care provider.  For purposes of this section, any person with significant financial interest in a health service or profession is not a public member.
(b)	No member appointed to the Board on or after November 1, 1981, shall serve more than two complete consecutive three-year terms, except that each member shall serve until his successor is chosen and qualifies.
(c)	In order to establish regularly overlapping terms, the terms of office of the members shall expire as follows: two on October 31, 1993; four on October 31, 1994; four on October 31, 1995; and two on October 31, 1996.  No initial physician member of the Board may serve another term until at least three years from the date of expiration of his current term.
(d)	Any initial or regular member of the Board may be removed from office by the Governor for good cause shown. Any vacancy in the initial or regular physician membership of the Board shall be filled for the period of the unexpired term by the Governor from a list of physicians submitted by the North Carolina Medical Society Executive Council. Any vacancy in the public membership of the Board shall be filled by the Governor for the unexpired term.
(e)	The Board of Medical Examiners shall have the power to acquire, hold, rent, encumber, alienate, and otherwise deal with real property in the same manner as any private person or corporation, subject only to approval of the Governor and the Council of State as to the acquisition, rental, encumbering, leasing, and sale of real property. Collateral pledged by the Board for an encumbrance is limited to the assets, income, and revenues of the Board."
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.  The terms of the new appointed positions created by Section 2 of this act shall commence November 1, 1993.  The terms of the members serving on the Board as of the effective date of this act shall not be altered as a result of Section 2 of this act.