Sec. 351.501. DENIAL OF LICENSE AND DISCIPLINARY ACTION BY BOARD. (a) The board may refuse to issue a license to an applicant, revoke or suspend a license, place on probation a person whose license has been suspended, impose a fine, impose a stipulation, limitation, or condition relating to continued practice, including conditioning continued practice on counseling or additional education, or reprimand a license holder if the board determines that:

(1) the applicant or license holder is guilty of fraud, deceit, dishonesty, or misrepresentation in the practice of optometry or therapeutic optometry or in seeking admission to that practice;

(2) the applicant or license holder is unfit or incompetent by reason of negligence;

(3) the applicant or license holder has been convicted of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or a felony;

(4) the applicant or license holder has developed an incapacity that prevents or could prevent the applicant or license holder from practicing optometry or therapeutic optometry with reasonable skill, competence, and safety to the public;

(5) the license holder has directly or indirectly employed, hired, procured, or induced a person to practice optometry or therapeutic optometry in this state without a license;

(6) the license holder has directly or indirectly aided or abetted an unlicensed person in the practice of optometry or therapeutic optometry;

(7) the license holder has placed the holder's license at the disposal or service of, including lending, leasing, or renting to, a person not licensed to practice optometry or therapeutic optometry in this state;

(8) the applicant or license holder has wilfully or repeatedly violated this chapter or a board rule adopted under this chapter;

(9) the license holder has wilfully or repeatedly represented to a member of the public that the license holder is authorized or competent to cure or treat an eye disease beyond the authorization granted by this chapter;

(10) the license holder has had the right to practice optometry or therapeutic optometry suspended or revoked by a federal agency for a cause that the board believes warrants that action;

(11) the applicant or license holder has acted to deceive, defraud, or harm the public;

(12) the applicant or license holder is guilty of gross incompetence in the practice of optometry or therapeutic optometry;

(13) the applicant or license holder has engaged in a pattern of practice or other behavior demonstrating a wilful provision of substandard care;

(14) the applicant or license holder has committed an act of sexual abuse, misconduct, or exploitation with a patient or has otherwise unethically or immorally abused the doctor-patient relationship;

(15) the applicant or license holder has prescribed, sold, administered, distributed, or given a drug legally classified as a controlled substance or as an addictive or dangerous drug for other than an accepted diagnostic or therapeutic purpose;

(16) the applicant or license holder has failed to report to the board the relocation of the applicant's or license holder's office not later than the 30th day after the date of relocation, whether in or out of this state; or

(17) the license holder has practiced or attempted to practice optometry while the license holder's license was suspended.

(b) A violation of this chapter is not a violation for purposes of disciplinary action under Subsections (a)(8) and (9) if the violation occurs at least four years before the date a complaint is filed that results in a disciplinary hearing before the board on that complaint.

(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the board may not, as part of a disciplinary action, order a license holder to acquire a license or certificate of a different or higher class or type than the license holder holds at the time of the disciplinary action.

(d) The board may refuse to issue a license to an applicant or may revoke or suspend a license or place a license holder on probation for a period determined by the board because of the applicant's or license holder's violation of a law of this state, other than this chapter, or a rule of another licensing board in this state, or of a statute or rule of another state as determined by a review conducted as provided by Section 351.2526, if the violation constitutes a violation of the laws of this state or a board rule.

Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.

Amended by:

Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 101 (H.B. 1025), Sec. 1.018, eff. September 1, 2005.

Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 385 (S.B. 314), Sec. 17, eff. September 1, 2017.