2011 Vermont Code
Title 26 Professions and Occupations
Chapter 31 PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS
§ 1736 Unprofessional conduct

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TITLE 26

Professions and Occupations

CHAPTER 31. PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS

§ 1736. Unprofessional conduct

(a) The following conduct and the conduct described in section 1354 of this title by a licensed physician assistant shall constitute unprofessional conduct. When that conduct is by an applicant or person who later becomes an applicant, it may constitute grounds for denial of licensure:

(1) fraud or misrepresentation in applying for or procuring a license or in applying for or procuring a periodic renewal of a license;

(2) occupational advertising which is intended or has a tendency to deceive the public;

(3) exercising undue influence on or taking improper advantage of a person using the individual's services, or promoting the sale of professional goods or services in a manner which exploits a person for the financial gain of the practitioner or of a third party;

(4) failing to comply with provisions of federal or state statutes or rules governing the profession;

(5) conviction of a crime related to the profession;

(6) conduct which evidences unfitness to practice in the profession.

(b) Unprofessional conduct includes the following actions by a licensed physician assistant:

(1) making or filing false professional reports or records, impeding or obstructing the proper making or filing of professional reports or records, or failing to file the proper professional report or record;

(2) practicing the profession when mentally or physically unfit to do so;

(3) practicing the profession without having a delegation agreement meeting the requirements of this chapter on file at the primary location of the physician assistant's practice and the board;

(4) accepting and performing responsibilities which the individual knows or has reason to know that he or she is not competent to perform;

(5) making any material misrepresentation in the practice of the profession, whether by commission or omission;

(6) the act of holding one's self out as, or permitting one's self to be represented as, a licensed physician;

(7) performing otherwise than at the direction and under the supervision of a physician licensed by the board or an osteopath licensed by the Vermont board of osteopathic physicians and surgeons;

(8) performing or offering to perform a task or tasks beyond the individual's delegated scope of practice;

(9) administering, dispensing, or prescribing any controlled substance otherwise than as authorized by law;

(10) habitual or excessive use or abuse of drugs, alcohol, or other substances that impair the ability to provide medical services;

(11) failure to practice competently by reason of any cause on a single occasion or on multiple occasions. Failure to practice competently includes as determined by the board:

(A) performance of unsafe or unacceptable patient care; or

(B) failure to conform to the essential standards of acceptable and prevailing practice.

(c) A person aggrieved by a determination of the board may, within 30 days of the order, appeal that order to the Vermont supreme court on the basis of the record created before the board. (Added 1981, No. 100, { 6; amended 1985, No. 208 (Adj. Sess.), { 8, eff. June 30, 1986; 1989, No. 250 (Adj. Sess.), { 47; 2003, No. 34, { 13, eff. May 23, 2003; 2011, No. 61, { 4, eff. June 2, 2011.)