2022 Arizona Revised Statutes
Title 32 - Professions and Occupations
§ 32-1854 - Definition of unprofessional conduct

32-1854. Definition of unprofessional conduct

For the purposes of this chapter, " unprofessional conduct" includes the following acts, whether occurring in this state or elsewhere:

1. Knowingly betraying a professional secret or wilfully violating a privileged communication except as either of these may otherwise be required by law. This paragraph does not prevent members of the board from exchanging information with the licensing and disciplinary boards of other states, territories or districts of the United States or with foreign countries or with osteopathic medical organizations located in this state or in any state, district or territory of this country or in any foreign country.

2. Committing a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. In either case conviction by any court of competent jurisdiction is conclusive evidence of the commission of the offense.

3. Practicing medicine while under the influence of alcohol, a dangerous drug as defined in section 13-3401, narcotic or hypnotic drugs or any substance that impairs or may impair the licensee's ability to safely and skillfully practice medicine.

4. Being diagnosed by a physician licensed under this chapter or chapter 13 of this title or a psychologist licensed under chapter 19.1 of this title as excessively or illegally using alcohol or a controlled substance.

5. Prescribing, dispensing or administering controlled substances or prescription-only drugs for other than accepted therapeutic purposes.

6. Engaging in the practice of medicine in a manner that harms or may harm a patient or that the board determines falls below the community standard.

7. Impersonating another physician.

8. Acting or assuming to act as a member of the board if this is not true.

9. Procuring, renewing or attempting to procure or renew a license to practice osteopathic medicine by fraud or misrepresentation.

10. Having professional connection with or lending one's name to an illegal practitioner of osteopathic medicine or any of the other healing arts.

11. Representing that a manifestly incurable disease, injury, ailment or infirmity can be permanently cured or that a curable disease, injury, ailment or infirmity can be cured within a stated time if this is not true.

12. Failing to reasonably disclose and inform the patient or the patient's representative of the method, device or instrumentality the licensee uses to treat the patient's disease, injury, ailment or infirmity.

13. Refusing to divulge to the board on demand the means, method, device or instrumentality used to treat a disease, injury, ailment or infirmity.

14. Charging a fee for services not rendered or dividing a professional fee for patient referrals. This paragraph does not apply to payments from a medical researcher to a physician in connection with identifying and monitoring patients for clinical trial regulated by the United States food and drug administration.

15. Knowingly making any false or fraudulent statement, written or oral, in connection with the practice of medicine or when applying for or renewing privileges at a health care institution or a health care program.

16. Advertising in a false, deceptive or misleading manner.

17. Representing or claiming to be an osteopathic medical specialist if the physician has not satisfied the applicable requirements of this chapter or board rules.

18. Having a license denied or disciplinary action taken against a license by any other state, territory, district or country, unless it can be shown that this occurred for reasons that did not relate to the person's ability to safely and skillfully practice osteopathic medicine or to any act of unprofessional conduct as provided in this section.

19. Committing any conduct or practice contrary to recognized standards of ethics of the osteopathic medical profession.

20. Violating or attempting to violate, directly or indirectly, or assisting in or abetting the violation of or conspiring to violate any of the provisions of this chapter.

21. Failing or refusing to establish and maintain adequate records on a patient as follows:

(a) If the patient is an adult, for at least six years after the last date the licensee provided the patient with medical or health care services.

(b) If the patient is a child, either for at least three years after the child's eighteenth birthday or for at least six years after the last date the licensee provided that patient with medical or health care services, whichever date occurs later.

22. Using controlled substances or prescription-only drugs unless they are provided by a medical practitioner, as defined in section 32-1901, as part of a lawful course of treatment.

23. Prescribing controlled substances to members of one's immediate family unless there is no other physician available within fifty miles to treat a member of the family and an emergency exists.

24. Committing nontherapeutic use of injectable amphetamines.

25. Violating a formal order, probation or a stipulation issued by the board under this chapter.

26. Charging or collecting an inappropriate fee. This paragraph does not apply to a fee that is fixed in a written contract between the physician and the patient and entered into before treatment begins.

27. Using experimental forms of therapy without adequate informed patient consent or without conforming to generally accepted criteria and complying with federal and state statutes and regulations governing experimental therapies.

28. Failing to make patient medical records in the physician's possession promptly available to a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner, a person licensed pursuant to this chapter or a podiatrist, chiropractor, naturopathic physician, physician or homeopathic physician licensed under chapter 7, 8, 13, 14 or 29 of this title on receipt of proper authorization to do so from the patient, a minor patient's parent, the patient's legal guardian or the patient's authorized representative or failing to comply with title 12, chapter 13, article 7.1.

29. Failing to allow properly authorized board personnel to have, on presentation of a subpoena, access to any documents, reports or records that are maintained by the physician and that relate to the physician's medical practice or medically related activities pursuant to section 32-1855.01.

30. Signing a blank, undated or predated prescription form.

31. Obtaining a fee by fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.

32. Failing to report to the board an osteopathic physician and surgeon who is or may be guilty of unprofessional conduct or is or may be mentally or physically unable safely to engage in the practice of medicine.

33. Referring a patient to a diagnostic or treatment facility or prescribing goods and services without disclosing that the physician has a direct pecuniary interest in the facility, goods or services to which the patient has been referred or prescribed. This paragraph does not apply to a referral by one physician to another physician within a group of physicians practicing together.

34. Exhibiting a lack of or inappropriate direction, collaboration or supervision of a licensed, certified or registered health care provider or office personnel employed by or assigned to the physician in the medical care of patients.

35. Violating a federal law, a state law or a rule applicable to the practice of medicine.

36. Prescribing or dispensing controlled substances or prescription-only medications without establishing and maintaining adequate patient records.

37. Dispensing a schedule II controlled substance that is an opioid, except as provided in section 32-1871.

38. Failing to dispense drugs and devices in compliance with article 4 of this chapter.

39. Committing any conduct or practice that endangers a patient's or the public's health or may reasonably be expected to do so.

40. Committing any conduct or practice that impairs the licensee's ability to safely and skillfully practice medicine or that may reasonably be expected to do so.

41. With the exception of heavy metal poisoning, using chelation therapy in the treatment of arteriosclerosis or as any other form of therapy without adequate informed patient consent and without conforming to generally accepted experimental criteria, including protocols, detailed records, periodic analysis of results and periodic review by a medical peer review committee.

42. Prescribing, dispensing or administering anabolic-androgenic steroids to a person for other than therapeutic purposes.

43. Engaging in sexual conduct with a current patient or with a former patient within six months after the last medical consultation unless the patient was the licensee's spouse at the time of the contact or, immediately preceding the physician-patient relationship, was in a dating or engagement relationship with the licensee. For the purposes of this paragraph, " sexual conduct" includes:

(a) Engaging in or soliciting sexual relationships, whether consensual or nonconsensual.

(b) Making sexual advances, requesting sexual favors or engaging in any other verbal conduct or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

44. Committing conduct that is in violation of section 36-2302.

45. Committing conduct that the board determines constitutes gross negligence, repeated negligence or negligence that results in harm or death of a patient.

46. Committing conduct in the practice of medicine that evidences unfitness to practice medicine.

47. Engaging in disruptive or abusive behavior in a professional setting.

48. Failing to disclose to a patient that the licensee has a direct financial interest in a prescribed treatment, good or service if the treatment, good or service is available on a competitive basis. This paragraph does not apply to a referral by one licensee to another licensee within a group of licensees who practice together. A licensee meets the disclosure requirements of this paragraph if both of the following are true:

(a) The licensee makes the disclosure on a form prescribed by the board.

(b) The patient or the patient's guardian or parent acknowledges by signing the form that the licensee has disclosed the licensee's direct financial interest.

49. Prescribing, dispensing or furnishing a prescription medication or a prescription-only device to a person if the licensee has not conducted a physical or mental health status examination of that person or has not previously established a physician-patient relationship. The physical or mental health status examination may be conducted through telehealth as defined in section 36-3601 with a clinical evaluation that is appropriate for the patient and the condition with which the patient presents, unless the examination is for the purpose of obtaining a written certification from the physician for the purposes of title 36, chapter 28.1. This paragraph does not apply to:

(a) Emergencies.

(b) A licensee who provides patient care on behalf of the patient's regular treating licensed health care professional or provides a consultation requested by the patient's regular treating licensed health care professional.

(c) Prescriptions written or antimicrobials dispensed to a contact as defined in section 36-661 who is believed to have had significant exposure risk as defined in section 36-661 with another person who has been diagnosed with a communicable disease as defined in section 36-661 by the prescribing or dispensing physician.

(d) Prescriptions for epinephrine auto-injectors written or dispensed for a school district or charter school to be stocked for emergency use pursuant to section 15-157 or for an authorized entity to be stocked pursuant to section 36-2226.01.

(e) Prescriptions written by a licensee through a telehealth program that is covered by the policies and procedures adopted by the administrator of a hospital or outpatient treatment center.

(f) Prescriptions for naloxone hydrochloride or any other opioid antagonist approved by the United States food and drug administration that are written or dispensed for use pursuant to section 36-2228 or 36-2266.

50. If a licensee provides medical care by computer, failing to disclose the licensee's license number and the board's address and telephone number.