Professional Conduct, Ethics, and Disciplinary Process
Conduct expected of licensees
The Board enforces statutory unprofessional conduct and the ethics rules. Core duties include informed consent, confidentiality, accurate and timely records, truthful advertising, avoiding fraud and deception, maintaining professional boundaries, and practicing only within scope. Licensees must not aid unlicensed practice, exploit patients financially or sexually, practice while impaired, or abandon patients. Patient records must be kept for the period set by Board rule and released as authorized by law; HIPAA compliance is not a defense to a Board ethics violation.
Discipline process
A complaint is filed with the Board. The Board screens and investigates; it may dismiss, resolve by agreement, or bring a contested case. The licensee receives notice and an opportunity to be heard under RSA 541-A, may be represented by counsel, and may appeal an adverse final decision to the superior court. Sanctions include reprimand, fine, probation, conditions, suspension, and revocation. Emergency suspension may be ordered where continued practice poses an immediate danger.
Worked example
A chiropractor posts a patient's identifiable before-and-after radiographs on social media with a complimentary caption but no written authorization. Even without the patient's name, the images and clinical details may identify her. This is a confidentiality and informed-consent violation. The Board can discipline even though the post was marketing, because the patient did not authorize the disclosure. A HIPAA analysis may also apply, but it does not displace the Board's ethics rule.
Traps
Thinking a single complaint automatically suspends a license; confusing the Board's investigative subpoena with a court order; discussing a pending case ex parte with Board members; and assuming patient consent can be implied from the fact that the patient posed for a photo.