North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 21 - OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS › Chapter 42 - OPTOMETRY › Subchapter E - MODE OF PRACTICE › Section .0300 - UNETHICAL PRACTICES DEFINED: REVOCATION OF LICENSE › Section 42E .0302 - UNETHICAL PRACTICES

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
It is unethical for an optometrist to:
(1) solicit by means of advertising
				  considered by the Board to be untruthful, false, misleading, deceptive,
				  bait-and-switch, or fraudulent;
(2)
				  allow, permit, or otherwise condone by his failure to act in a timely manner to
				  prevent his name, his practice, or his practice location from being presented
				  to the public through any type of advertising which is false, deceptive, or
				  misleading;
(3) offer to discount
				  his professional fees as a condition to the sale of optical goods by himself or
				  any optical dispensary located adjacent to or in close proximity to his
				  practice;
(4) fail to use the word
				  "optometrist", the abbreviation "O.D.", or the words "doctor of optometry"
				  whenever the optometrist's name appears in connection with his practice of
				  optometry;
(5) fail to list the
				  name of each practitioner on any sign or lettering denoting the location of the
				  practice or in any advertising promoting a practice when there is more than one
				  optometrist practicing at the same location; the lettering of the optometrist's
				  name and the lettering denoting the optometrist's designation as an optometrist
				  shall be of comparable size and readability;
(6) use the title "Optometrist" in connection
				  with a profession or business considered foreign to the practice of
				  optometry;
(7) present his practice
				  or practice location to the public as an optical store in order to entice the
				  public to avail themselves of his professional optometric service while
				  shopping for optical goods. In keeping with this Rule, an optometrist may make
				  use of frame bars or selection cabinets provided such frame bars or selection
				  cabinets are so placed within an office that they are not visible from outside
				  the office;
(8) allow his
				  professional judgment to be unreasonably influenced by someone not directly
				  responsible for the patient's well-being or welfare. Persons directly
				  responsible for the patient's welfare would include another optometrist, a
				  physician, or a member of the patient's family;
(9) give or accept rebates in any form to or
				  from any person in return for an opportunity to generate or receive a
				  professional fee;
(10) practice or
				  use his license in a manner deemed to be in violation of
				  G.S.
				  90-121.2 or
				  90-125;
(11) knowingly aid another person to violate
				  the laws governing optometry;
(12)
				  engage in practice involving conduct which is inconsistent with the dignity of
				  the profession or the rules of the Board. Such "unprofessional conduct"
				  includes, but is not limited to, conduct which violates or does not meet any
				  standard of behavior which through professional experience has become
				  established in the profession of optometry in North Carolina.
Authority
					 G.S.
					 90-117.5;
					 90-121.2;
Eff.
					 February 1, 1976;
Readopted Eff. May 30, 1978;
Amended
					 Eff. June 1, 1993; June 1, 1989; September 30, 1981;
Pursuant to
					 G.S.
					 150B-21.3A, rule is necessary without
					 substantive public interest Eff. May 23,
					 2015.