MITIGATING FACTORS

According to the Board’s own rules, 190.14(6), the Board is to consider mitigating factors if the Board finds a physician violated the Act.

Mitigating factors are critical if you are involved in an investigation to express this information to the Board. Please do not think that engaging in mitigating factors is equal to an admission that you did something wrong. It is not. But it is all right to use the investigation as a painful learning experience to evaluate the facts of the investigation and see what, if anything, could have been done to have a better outcome. Sometimes, you see with hindsight that something else could have been done; sometimes, maybe nothing else could have been done. Maybe it is poor records, or maybe it is a system’s error. Examining all factors, especially those factors beyond just the underlying allegations can be very helpful to you during the Board’s investigation and can help even more should the investigation result in a disciplinary hearing.