2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY - Examining Boards and Professional Colleges (§§ 1 — 6033) › Chapter 7 - Board of Chiropractic Examiners (§§ 151 — 169) › § 166 - Licenses—Cancellation

Licenses for the practice of chiropractic may be temporarily or permanently cancelled or annulled by the Board after a hearing is held and the repondent is given an opportunity to be heard in his defense. Licenses may be annulled or cancelled for the following reasons, among others:
(1) For immoral conduct.
(2) For manifest ignorance of inefficiency in the practice of the profession.
(3) For fraud or deceit in documents presented to the Board.
(4) For fraud or deceit in the practice of the profession.
(5) For employing, hiring, inducing or permitting a person to practice the profession without holding a license.
(6) For aiding any person to practice the profession without a license.
(7) For conviction of a felony in a court of justice.
(8) For lack of ethics in the profession as defined by the regulations of the Board.
(9) For any other improper professional conduct not mentioned above, such as daily and exaggerated use of alcoholic beverages.
The Board shall hold hearings for the decision of the charges preferred against chiropractors for violation of the prohibitions embodied in this section.
After hearing both parties, the Board shall decide such cases on their merits, and if the person is found guilty it shall revoke and annul his license, annul his registration and temporarily or permanently suspend him in the practice of the profession, or it shall reprimand him, censure him or impose on him any other disciplinary measure it may deem pertinent.
Proceedings against any chiropractor for violation of this section shall be begun by filing with the Office of the Secretary of the Board an affidavit of the facts on which said proceedings are based. Said affidavit may be signed by any person, association or entity legally constituted. The Board may dismiss the charges and take no action thereon if in its judgment the charges are groundless.
A copy of the charges, together with a notice of the time and place of the hearing, shall be served on the respondent, or on his counsel at least ten (10) days in advance. Said notice of the hearing shall contain a plain and brief statement of the facts, but not the evidence which brought about the charges, and the respondent shall be informed that he will have an opportunity to appear assisted by counsel if he so desires, and to produce witnesses and evidence in his defense, and to cross-examine such witnesses and examine such evidence against him as he may desire.
If by a majority vote of the three (3) members of the Board the respondent is found guilty of the charges preferred against him, said Board may temporarily or permanently cancel his license.
When a license is cancelled, such fact shall be set forth in the records of the Board and notice thereof served on the Police of Puerto Rico and any other entities which the Board may deem convenient and necessary.
Any person whose license has been revoked, cancelled or annulled under the provisions of this section, shall be entitled to appeal from the decision of the Board by means of a writ of certiorari filed before a competent court of justice, but while such certiorari is heard, his license shall remain revoked, cancelled or annulled, and he shall not practice his profession.
Any member of the Board or the Secretary thereof may issue subpoenas and administer oaths in connection with any hearing or investigation conducted in accordance with the provisions hereof, and it shall be the duty of the Secretary to issue subpoenas upon request and for the benefit of the respondent.
The Board shall not be bound to govern itself strictly by the rules of evidence of the courts of justice in the conduct of its hearings, but any decision of said Board shall be founded upon sufficient legal evidence to sustain the charges.
For the effectuation of the provisions of this section the Board shall be empowered to establish such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary, provided such rules and regulations are not in conflict with the provisions of §§ 151—169 of this title.
No member of the Board who is related to the respondent within the fourth degree of consanguinity shall take part in the discussion of the charges preferred against the latter.
History —May 15, 1952, No. 493, p. 1062, § 16; May 31, 1968, No. 66, p. 113, § 5.