Opinion ID: 203925
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Challenged Regulation

Text: The Board of Medical Examiners of Puerto Rico is responsible for issuing licenses to practice medicine in the Commonwealth. See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 20, § 34. The Board is also empowered to deny, suspend, cancel or revoke any license and to issue an order fixing a probationary period for a doctor for a specific term. Id. at § 34. On October 19, 2005, the Board issued a Public Notice (the Notice), effective immediately, announcing and implementing new regulations on the practice of medicine in Puerto Rico. Among other things, the Notice limited the practice of cosmetic surgery [1] in Puerto Rico to physicians who had been board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery [2] or the American Board of Dermatology.