January 22, 2013 03:36 PM UTC

Rep. Janak Joshi: Trust Me, I'm a Physician! *

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• by: Colorado Pols

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: A commenter points out statute that Rep. Janak Joshi may have in fact violated by identifying himself as a “physician” after being forced to surrender his medical license:

12-36-106. Practice of medicine defined – exemptions from licensing requirements – unauthorized practice by physician assistants and ansthesiologist assistants – penalties – rules

(1) For the purpose of this article, “practice of medicine” means:

(a) Holding out one’s self to the public within this state as being able to diagnose, treat, prescribe for, palliate, or prevent any human disease, ailment, pain, injury, deformity, or physical or mental condition, whether by the use of drugs, surgery, manipulation, electricity, telemedicine, the interpretation of tests, including primary diagnosis of pathology specimens, images, or photographs, or any physical, mechanical, or other means whatsoever;

(b) Suggesting, recommending, prescribing, or administering any form of treatment, operation, or healing for the intended palliation, relief, or cure of any physical or mental disease, ailment, injury, condition, or defect of any person;

(c) The maintenance of an office or other place for the purpose of examining or treating persons afflicted with disease, injury, or defect of body or mind;

(d) Using the title M.D., D.O., physician, surgeon, or any word or abbreviation to indicate or induce others to believe that one is licensed to practice medicine in this state [Pols emphasis] and engaged in the diagnosis or treatment of persons afflicted with disease, injury, or defect of body or mind, except as otherwise expressly permitted by the laws of this state enacted relating to the practice of any limited field of the healing arts;

It sure looks like what Rep. Joshi claimed last Sunday (video below) is a class 2 misdemeanor under Colorado law.
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As promised this past weekend, here is video from Sunday’s Colorado Right to Life rally at the Colorado capitol of state Republican Rep. Janak “Dr. Nick” Joshi, speaking in support of his House Bill 13-1032–this year’s iteration of the GOP’s perennial “fetal homicide” backdoor anti-abortion bill.

JOSHI: We have lot of work ahead of us, particularly this year, uh, some of you might have read in Denver Post two days ago, the Speaker of the House made a comment about my bill, that “Republicans haven’t learned their lesson yet.” Mr. Speaker, what lesson do you want us to learn? I’m a physician. [Pols emphasis] I know about the life. Don’t try to teach me anything.

Now folks, as soon as we heard that Rep. Joshi used the words “I’m a physician” in reference to himself, an alarm bell went off in our head. Probably because of this:

WeВ explained back in 2010В regarding then-candidate Joshi:

Joshi was named as a codefendant in a 1995 wrongful death suit, and a negligence case in 2002.

On February 8, 2006, Joshi received a letter of admonition from the State Board of Medical Examiners for failing to properly evaluate and adequately treat a patient, as well as failing to adequately document the patient’s treatment. In the letter, Joshi admitted he engaged conduct that “fails to meet generally accepted standards for medical practice.”

The letter demanded Joshi undergo an assessment at the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians, and the center recommended he retrain in a nephrology fellowship. On December 12, 2007, the Board of Medical Examiners suspended his medical license for failing to take remedial nephrology training. In August of 2008, he was forced to surrender his medical license.

So we’re not doctors, and we don’t know exactly how the professional ethics on this are supposed to work. If you’re forced to surrender your medical license, do you still get to call yourself a “physician?” Note that this may not be consistent with use of the word “doctor” in the same situation–after all, they can’t take the man’s degree from him.

But either way, calling yourself a physician, doctor, whichever, when you’ve been forced to surrender your license to practice medicine, really doesn’t seem like a very good idea.