Medical boards

Medical boards are the state entities that regulate the practice of medicine in each state, and grant or revoke medical licenses. While state medical boards traditionally are limited to protecting the quality of care for patients, increasingly state medical boards are acting on behalf of insurance companies who want to reduce their payments to physicians.

These states have laws or policies preventing medical boards from taking action based on fees charged by physicians:

• Arizona
• California (except for fees charged for services never performed)
• Tennessee

Judicial immunity

Most federal Courts of Appeals have found that medical board examiners have judicial immunity from suits brought against them for their conduct in license suspension proceedings:

• Mishler v. Clift, 191 F.3d 998 (9th Cir. 1999)
• Ostrzenski v. Seigel, 177 F.3d 245 (4th Cir. 1999)
• O'Neal v. Miss. Bd. Of Nursing, 113 F.3d 62 (5th Cir. 1997)
• Wang v. N.H. Bd. of Registration in Med., 55 F.3d 698 (1st Cir. 1995)
• Watts v. Burkhart, 978 F.2d 269 (6th Cir. 1992) (en banc)
• Bettencourt v. Bd. of Registration in Med., 904 F.2d 772 (1st Cir. 1990)
• Horwitz v. State Bd. of Med. Exam'rs, 822 F.2d 1508 (10th Cir. 1987)
• Applewhite v. Briber, 506 F.3d 181 (2d Cir. 2007)

A decision rejecting judicial immunity for a summary suspension of a license is DiBlasio v. Novello, 344 F.3d 292 (2d Cir. 2003).