2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY - Examining Boards and Professional Colleges (§§ 1 — 6033) › Chapter 6 - Medical Discipline and Licensure Board Act (§§ 131 — 135j) › Subchapter IV - Discipline (§§ 134 — 134d) › § 134b - Regulatory and disciplinary actions

The Board shall take actions as pertinent to enforce and discipline when required, ensuring that procedures are fair and are in observance of due process of law for licensees. The provisions of this chapter shall be implemented and be consistent with the following:
(a) Authority of the Board.— The Board shall have the power to institute a legal action, to comply with the provisions of this chapter, and to exercise its discretion and authority with respect to disciplinary actions.
(b) Separation of functions.— In the exercise of its power, investigative and adjudicative functions shall be separated to ensure justice, and the Board shall have to act consistently in the application of disciplinary sanctions.
(c) Administrative procedures.— The Uniform Administrative Procedures Act (LPAU, Spanish acronym), §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, shall apply to the proceedings conducted pursuant to this chapter. Proceedings under this chapter shall provide for the investigation of charges by the Board; notice of charges to the party charged; an opportunity for a fair and impartial hearing for the party charged before the Board or an Examiners Committee; the opportunity for the party charged to be accompanied by his/her lawyer; the presentation of evidence and arguments; the power to subpoena and to bring witnesses; a register of proceedings; judicial review by a court pursuant to the standards of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for such a review; the Board shall have the power to conduct a thorough review of the physician, the patient, and the records at his/her office, and the administrative authority to access other peer-protected records.
(d) Standard of proof.— The Board shall have the authority to use the weight of the evidence as the standard of proof in its role as judging officer.
(e) Informal conference.— The Board may hold informal hearings and the disciplinary actions taken as a result of this type of informal conference, in writing by the Board and the accused, shall be binding and a matter of public record. However, except in those cases where gross negligence is established by a final and binding judgment, any issue regarding the revocation of a license shall be addressed at a formal hearing. The holding of an informal hearing shall not exclude the possibility of a formal hearing if the Board deems it necessary.
(f) Summary suspension.— The Board shall have the authority to summarily suspend licenses in accordance with the provisions of this chapter when the Board believes that such an action is required to prevent imminent harm to public health and safety. Likewise, in medical malpractice suits where a final and binding judgment is entered by a court with competence, in which there is determined that the physician engaged in gross negligence, the Board shall summarily suspend the license in question until the corresponding administrative investigation process has concluded. The administrative disciplinary process shall conclude on or before six (6) months after the summary suspension of the license, except for just cause or any delay caused by the person being investigated. If the process does not conclude within the six (6)-month period, the Board shall issue a provisional license to the health professional until such process concludes. Said provisional license may contain those restrictions provided by the Board and which are strictly necessary to guarantee the public health and welfare, in accordance with the findings of the Board that prompted the summary suspension of the license.
(g) Cease and desist orders/injunctions.— The Board shall have the authority to issue cease and desist orders or injunctions to refrain any person or company or association, or any of its officials or directors from violating any provision of this chapter. The violation of an order shall be punishable as contempt of court. No proof of actual harm caused to a person shall be required for a cease and desist order and/or an injunction to be issued, and the issue of an order shall release those who performed the act from being criminally prosecuted for violating this chapter.
(h) Report of Board actions.— All final actions as to discipline, denial of licenses, including findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Board, shall be a matter of public record. Voluntary resignations shall also be a matter of public record by means of a data repository. A copy of said reports shall be sent free of charge to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Puerto Rico.
(i) Duplication of suspension or restriction periods.— The Board shall provide the mechanisms so that, in those cases in which a license is suspended or restricted at any time during which the physician is practicing in other jurisdiction without a comparable restriction, the same be not credited as part of the suspension or restriction period.
History —Aug. 1, 2008, No. 139, § 28, eff. Jan 1, 2009; Apr. 8, 2011, No. 57, § 3.