A recent Local 10 story about a woman allegedly injecting cement into the buttocks of another woman raises questions about what exactly constitutes the unlicensed practice of medicine in the State of Florida.
Florida law requires that medical procedures be conducted only by licensed professionals. Florida law states that each of the following constitutes the crime of practicing medicine without a license, a felony of the third degree:
The practice of medicine or an attempt to practice medicine without a license to practice in Florida; the use or attempted use of a license which is suspended or revoked to practice medicine; attempting to obtain or obtaining a license to practice medicine by knowing misrepresentation; attempting to obtain or obtaining a position as a medical practitioner or medical resident in a clinic or hospital through knowing misrepresentation of education, training, or experience; knowingly operating, owning, or managing a nonregistered pain-management clinic that is required to be registered with the Department of Health; dispensing a controlled substance listed in Schedule II or Schedule III.
Any of the above violations constitutes a crime carrying a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison.
Each of the following acts constitutes a misdemeanor of the first degree:
Knowingly concealing information relating to violations of this chapter; making any willfully false oath or affirmation whenever an oath or affirmation is required by this chapter; referring any patient, for health care goods or services, to a partnership, firm, corporation, or other business entity in which the physician or the physician’s employer has an equity interest of 10 percent or more unless, prior to such referral, the physician notifies the patient of his or her financial interest and of the patient’s right to obtain such goods or services at the location of the patient’s choice.
If one performs a medical procedure without a license and causes serious bodily harm to the patient, they can be charged with a second-degree felony, facing a maximum of 15 years in prison.
If you kill somebody while performing an unlicensed medical procedure, you can be charged with manslaughter.