Opinion ID: 2542903
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Nguyen decision conflicts with Santosky.

Text: ¶ 32 The Nguyen majority's analysis of the second Mathews factor is contrary to the Court's holding in Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 (1982). The second Mathews factor requires us to consider the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards. 424 U.S. at 335, 96 S.Ct. 893. In Santosky, the Court stated that it never has approved case-by-case determination of the proper standard of proof for a given proceeding. 455 U.S. at 757, 102 S.Ct. 1388. The Court further explained that [s]tandards of proof, like other `procedural due process rules[,] are shaped by the risk of error inherent in the truth-finding process as applied to the generality of cases, not the rare exceptions.' Id. (emphasis added) (alteration in original) (quoting Mathews, 424 U.S. at 344, 96 S.Ct. 893). ¶ 33 Nevertheless, in balancing the second Mathews factor, the Nguyen decision relied on case-specific considerations. Specifically, the Nguyen majority considered whether the agency acted `as investigator, prosecutor, and decision maker' and whether the charges brought against Dr. Nguyen were primarily objective or subjective. 144 Wash.2d at 531, 29 P.3d 689 (quoting Painter v. Abels, 998 P.2d 931, 941 (Wyo.2000)). Thus, the Nguyen majority did not properly follow the Mathews test, as delineated in Santosky, because it made case-specific considerations such as whether there was a right to a hearing by an unbiased tribunal or the right to judicial review. [5] The Nguyen majority weakened the public's ability to properly discipline all health care workers by extrapolating a sweeping legal rule from the peculiar facts of Dr. Nguyen's case. The State should not be disadvantaged in all future medical disciplinary proceedings because of the specific facts and charges at issue in Nguyen.