Professional Conduct, Discipline, and Enforcement
This domain tests how New Hampshire handles complaints, investigations, hearings, and sanctions against optometrists. The exam emphasizes grounds for discipline, due process, and the difference between Board enforcement and private civil remedies.
Grounds and process
Discipline may follow unprofessional conduct, incompetence, fraud or misrepresentation, practice outside scope, unlicensed practice, violation of Board rules, and failure to comply with licensing requirements. A complaint typically leads to Board review and investigation; contested cases proceed under the state Administrative Procedures Act, with notice and an opportunity to respond. The Board may impose sanctions such as reprimand, fine, probation, suspension, revocation, or additional CE. It does not award damages for malpractice; that is a civil matter.
Conduct expectations
Licensees must maintain patient records, protect confidentiality, obtain informed consent, and avoid false or misleading advertising. Recordkeeping is not clerical: incomplete records can defeat a defense and independently support discipline. Impairment and substance misuse are treated as professional-conduct matters, and failure to cooperate with an investigation can itself be a violation.
Worked example
A licensee advertises a “free examination” but bills a mandatory “technology fee” that is disclosed only after the visit. A patient complains. The Board examines the advertisement and the actual practice. Even if clinical care was adequate, misleading advertising can support a professional-conduct finding because it misrepresents the terms of service. The Board’s remedy is regulatory; the patient’s refund claim may need a civil process.
Traps that cost marks
- Believing the Board can award malpractice damages.
- Assuming a complaint is dismissed because the patient was not harmed.
- Treating recordkeeping errors as minor when they impede investigation.
- Ignoring a Board inquiry; noncooperation can be disciplined.
- Confusing criminal proof standards with administrative proceedings.