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Haley v. Medical Disciplinary Board11/7/1991
responsibilities of, and to enjoy the privileges of, the profession.
In re Kindschi, 52 Wash. 2d 8, 319 P.2d 824 (1958) illuminates the nature of this requirement. There, the Board had suspended a physician's license to practice medicine after he was convicted of tax fraud. The tax fraud was not related to the physician's diagnosis, care, or treatment of any patient. We nonetheless upheld the Board, and in doing so we took a broad view of the required relationship between the improper conduct and the
practice of the profession. A medical disciplinary proceeding, we explained, is taken for two purposes: to protect the public, and to protect the standing of the medical profession in the eyes of the public. In re Kindschi, supra at 11; cf. In re McGrath, 98 Wash. 2d 337, 345, 655 P.2d 232 (1982) (identifying similar purposes in regard to disciplining attorneys). We stated that the due process and equal protection clauses of the United States Constitution apply to disciplinary proceedings, and that no person may be prevented from practicing a profession except for valid reasons. In re Kindschi, supra at 11-12 (citing Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. 232, 1 L. Ed. 2d 796, 77 S. Ct. 752 (1957)). Conviction for tax fraud, we explained, is a valid reason to take disciplinary action against a physician:
The public has a right to expect the highest degree of trustworthiness of the members of the medical profession. We believe there is a rational connection between income tax fraud and one's fitness of character or trustworthiness to practice medicine, so that the legislature can properly make fraudulent conduct in such instances a ground for revoking or suspending the license of a doctor.
In re Kindschi, supra at 12. Being convicted of tax fraud does not indicate any lack of competence in the technical skills needed to be a physician. Rather, it indicates a lack of the high degree of trustworthiness the public is entitled to expect from a physician. It raises a reasonable apprehension that the physician might abuse the trust inherent in professional status, and it diminishes the profession's standing in the public's eyes. Trust is essential to ensure treatment will be accepted and advice followed.
We reached a similar holding in Standow v. Spokane, 88 Wash. 2d 624, 564 P.2d 1145, appeal dismissed, 434 U.S. 992 (1977). The Spokane City Council had denied a taxicab license to Standow because of his convictions for larceny and burglary. The basis for the City Council's action was RCW 9.96A.020, which provides that a felony conviction may be the basis for license disciplinary action if the felony
"directly relates to" the occupation for which the license is held. This court upheld the City Council's decision, declaring that "the nature of this occupation places the general public in a particularly vulnerable position should a licensee fail to discharge his occupation with a sense of justice and honesty." 88 Wash. 2d at 638.<BR>
In re Kindschi, supra, and Standow demonstrate that conduct may indicate unfitness to practice a profession or occupation without being directly related to the specific skills needed for that practice. The conduct need not have occurred during the actual exercise of professional or occupational skills, nor need the conduct raise general doubts about the individual's grasp of those skills. In the context of medical disciplinary proceedings, and in the light of the purposes of such proceedings, conduct may indicate
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