Obtaining a respiratory care professional license in California requires the proper training, extensive experience, attitude, and an understanding of this profession's laws and regulations. The Board of Respiratory Care is stringent when issuing licenses to protect the public from low-quality, incompetent, and illegal practices. You must provide the required documents and demonstrate excellent knowledge and competence to obtain a permit. You must withstand years of training and retraining and receive on-the-job work experience to qualify.

However, having exceptional skills and experience on the job does not protect your license in case of unprofessional conduct. The board can suspend or revoke your professional license if you are incompetent, negligent, or expose the public to the risk of harm. However, you can keep your license and livelihood with our support at San Diego License Attorney.

We help healthcare professionals like you defend their licenses when facing disciplinary action by their licensing boards in San Diego. We can gather evidence and develop an excellent defense to ensure you do not lose a career you have worked hard to build.

The Role of Respiratory Therapists

Respiratory care professionals are healthcare providers who help patients experiencing breathing difficulties. They are highly trained and skilled individuals who operate respirators, ventilators, and other hospital medical equipment. Their roles include improving the quality of life of patients with respiratory issues and saving lives.

As a respiratory therapist, you can serve in hospitals, home health, hospices, or elsewhere where your skills and competence are needed. Sometimes, you are required in emergency medical situations for all people, including children and older adults. Today, the need for your services is increasing rapidly. The people you serve are mainly those experiencing chronic disorders like bronchitis, asthma, COPD, or emphysema. You can also help those recuperating from a stroke, a heart attack, or a catastrophic accident. Even those suffering from sleeping conditions like sleep apnea can benefit from your expertise.

Typically, the role of respiratory care therapists is diverse. Here are examples of medical cases you handle daily:

  • Administering life support using ventilation machines and all the diagnosis, tests, and monitoring involved
  • Taking the patient's vital signs
  • Maintaining artificial airwaves, like tracheostomies
  • Treating respiratory and chronic problems like asthma and bronchitis
  • Administering various medications, like aerosols
  • Educating patients and helping with rehabilitation
  • Assessing how a patient responds to medication and therapy in a particular period
  • Testing patients’ blood samples for O2 and CO2 levels and the presence of other gases
  • Analyzing collected sputum samples and other diagnoses like X-ray test results of a patient’s lungs and other critical body organs
  • Determining the level of impairment in a patient’s critical organs, like lungs
  • Heading programs like smoke cessation to educate and rehabilitate patients
  • Educating the public about chronic diseases like asthma

This makes your job highly critical and intense and also exposes you to the risk of potential criminal charges, lawsuits, and administrative processes. When a lot is expected of you, people tend to raise your bar higher. Failure to provide the quality of service they require can result in problems that threaten your career. However, you can defend your license with the help of a skilled attorney. When you make a genuine mistake when diagnosing or administering treatment, it should not be the end of a career you have built for years. You deserve a second chance; excellent license defense service can fight for that.

The Role of the Board of Respiratory Care

Respiratory care therapists are licensed healthcare professionals. You need a valid license to offer your services within California. The Board of Respiratory Care issues these licenses, but only to qualified individuals. Your qualifications must include education, training, work experience, understanding of your profession's code of ethics and other laws governing professionals like you. You must also demonstrate dedication and excellence in administering safe, quality, and effective service to the general public.

While issuing professional permits is a noble task for this board, its primary role is maintaining public safety. Thus, the board can remove anyone threatening public safety, including a certified respiratory care therapist. You can lose your professional license if your services are not in line with the legal requirements or if you demonstrate incompetence or negligence. Remember that a license is your ticket to offering your service in the state. Without it, you can not earn a living in your profession. Thus, you should be careful when administering treatment to keep your livelihood.

However, mistakes happen all the time. Sometimes, they happen when you least expect them. Other times, you have a misunderstanding with a patient or colleague that results in an allegation of professional misconduct. A jealous boss or colleague can even file a false or misleading accusation. The board receives these allegations and complaints against certified respiratory care therapists. Although it does not act on all of them, it can take disciplinary action against the offender, which could affect their license and livelihood.

Remember that when an allegation is brought against you to the board, it will try to determine its credibility to protect the public. Thus, it could lodge an investigation to gather evidence, determine the gravity of the issue, and determine the proper disciplinary action to take. You must prepare to defend yourself, even if the allegation is false, unsubstantiated, or the mistake was genuine. A skilled attorney can help you determine the gravity of the matter and the right strategies to obtain a favorable outcome.

Here are examples of allegations and complaints that could threaten your career as a respiratory care therapist:

  • A criminal charge or conviction that affects your credibility as a licensed healthcare professional
  • Committing insurance fraud or being involved in any other fraud-related act
  • Receiving your respiratory care professional license fraudulently
  • Operating without a license or with an invalid license
  • Failing to refer patients or accepting kickbacks for referrals
  • Allowing unqualified assistants to offer services under your supervision
  • Being negligent or incompetent in service delivery
  • Committing sexual assault or engaging in sexual misconduct with a patient
  • Being under the investigation of another government agency or a licensing board in another state

Disciplinary Action by the Board of Respiratory Care

Complaints and allegations about unprofessional conduct by certified respiratory care therapists come from different sources, including hospitals where they work, directly from patients or former patients, patients’ families, the professionals' colleagues, and members of the public. Although professional boards do not react to all allegations and reports they receive, a complaint against you can have life-changing consequences. Thus, you should act quickly to avoid losing a career you have built in years with much hard work and effort. You can help your situation by seeking the help of an attorney who understands how administrative hearings work.

If the allegation against you is valid, and the board has solid evidence to take action against you, it can choose one of the many disciplinary actions listed on its webpage. The board’s choice is based on the gravity of the violation, your previous performance record, and whether or not someone was injured or lost their life due to your actions. Here are possible disciplines the board uses against respiratory care therapists who misconduct themselves on the job:

Issuing a Citation

Citations notify the alleged offender that the board is aware of their misconduct. They work to caution the professional against similar misconduct in the future. The board also issues an order for the professional to pay a fine through the citation. The board sets the amount according to the severity of your actions or resulting consequences.

Sadly, citations by the Board of Respiratory Care are usually made in public. This exposes your misconduct to millions of people that have access to the board’s website, including your employer, colleagues, patients, and family members. This can gravely damage your career and reputation.

If you are afraid about the citation’s effect on your reputation and job, talk to your attorney about fighting it during the administrative hearing. An experienced attorney can use compelling reasons and mitigating factors to cause the board to reconsider issuing a citation against you.

Issuing a Reprimand

Reprimands are warning letters issued against professionals found guilty of misconduct. They also serve to warn other professionals against similar conduct. The Board of Respiratory Care uses reprimands to warn its members against conduct that could affect public safety, like incompetence and sexual abuse. Although you are not required to do anything after receiving the reprimand other than changing your ways, the warning can impact your job and reputation. This is because it is publicly issued through a public website accessible to everyone.

If you must protect your job and reputation, a competent attorney can fight the reprimand on your behalf.

License Revocation

Some violations by respiratory care therapists are grave, requiring the bard to take stern action against them. Examples of grave violations are those that cause bodily harm or death to a patient, colleague, or any other person. These could result in the cancellation of your professional license. This takes away your career and livelihood and could result in criminal penalties like imprisonment.

However, a competent attorney can help you fight a grave charge to avoid the severe consequences and protect your livelihood. They can propose or accept a plea bargain, whereby the board takes a more reasonable action against you. Instead of revoking your license, your attorney can accept license suspension because it is temporary. They can also assist you in reinstating your license after the suspension.

Factors Influencing the Board’s Decisions

The Board of Respiratory Care is usually guided by the disciplinary guidelines on its webpage. The guidelines provide various violations that could trigger an administrative process, and possible consequences if the board finds you guilty of professional misconduct or legal violation. If the board has sufficient evidence against you, it decides how to discipline you based on several factors. These factors are categorized under mitigating and aggravating factors.

Mitigating factors speak in favor of the alleged offender. Thus, they could cause the board to drop your allegations or be lenient when taking disciplinary action against you. Your attorney can present a few mitigating factors to help your case during the administrative hearings. Examples of these factors include the following:

  • Demonstrating that you have recognized your mistakes and are remorseful
  • Proving that you have taken steps to correct your behavior to prevent a recurrence of the misconduct or violation
  • Demonstrating that your actions were not intentional but accidental
  • Reminding the judges that you reported yourself to the police, hospital administration, or the board
  • Demonstrating the significant period that has passed since you committed the violation, and you have not reoffended since
  • Proving your clean or excellent record of performance, with no prior violations
  • Demonstrating that you have taken the necessary steps to seek treatment or rehabilitation for an underlying issue.
  • Reminding the judges that no one suffered actual harm due to your conduct and that your behavior did not pose any risk of harm.

On the other hand, aggravating factors worsen your situation and could result in a graver consequence. The board considers these factors when determining the severity of your conduct and the correct disciplinary action to take. Examples of aggravating factors that could worsen your situation are as follows:

  • Someone or people suffered actual harm due to your actions or omissions.
  • Your actions posed a risk of harm to your patients or colleagues.
  • You violated the trust of your patients or employer.
  • You are a habitual offender or have a severe record of previous misconduct.
  • You demonstrate a pattern of repeated violations and will likely violate in the future.
  • You committed a grave crime in the presence of a child.
  • You have a felony or misdemeanor conviction that substantially affects your professionalism.

Find a Competent License Defense Service Near Me

If it took years of hard work, determination, and dedication to obtain a respiratory care professional license, you will do everything possible to defend it. Your license is at risk if the Board of Respiratory Care opens an investigation against you for an alleged misconduct or violation. Fortunately, you can keep your license and livelihood with the help of a competent license defense attorney.

We assist professionals like you at San Diego License Attorney because we understand how much your professional license means to you and everyone who depends on it. We have been doing this for years and have the skills and expertise to assist you in navigating the complex administrative process and developing fighting strategies that could compel the board to reinstate your license. Call us for assistance at 858-665-2455 immediately after receiving a notification from the Board of Respiratory Care in San Diego.