Just a friendly lawyerly reminder to update your address of record with the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, or the Board of Registered Nursing. Most licensing agencies require that licensees register an address where they can be reliably contacted for professional purposes. The agencies will use the address you provide when they send relevant licensing information, such as license fee notices, notifications of complaints and investigations, and disciplinary action against your license. Assume that your address of record will be where all mission critical correspondence should be directed. Also assume that the address you use will be public, meaning that any person who searches for your name will find the address you provide. If you use a post office box or your office as your address of record, you should ensure that you do, in fact, regularly check for mail or office staff are sure to get it to you in a timely manner. Should you have a change of address, you have 30 days from the date the change is effective to notify the licensing agency.
Two recent legal cases illustrate the danger of failing to attend to this mundane, yet required, task. In the first, Medical Board v. Superior Court __ Cal.App.5th __ (Feb. 21, 2018), a licensed physician and surgeon claimed that he failed to receive notice of a patient complaint and scheduled interview, despite the Medical Board having sent it to the address he had on record. The Board then issued a default revocation of his license, a decision which made appellate court history.
In the second, Selvidge v. Tang __Cal.App.5th__ (Mar. 5, 2018), plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case mailed a MICRA Notice of Intent to Sue to the physician’s address of record with the Medical Board. The physician attempted to argue that the notice was insufficient because it wasn’t actually received by the physician and the case was filed too late (outside the statute of limitations). The appellate court ultimately determined that it was reasonable for plaintiffs to use the physician’s address of record and that plaintiffs timely filed their lawsuit.
Please take a moment to check the address you have on file, and call us if you have any questions or comments about the above.