Arrested and wondering how it’ll affect me

[shakeshack]

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Long story short, I was arrested recently but my case, under NYS, has been dismissed and sealed. I’m wondering how this might affect me later down the line for residency and licensing. I understand so far that AMCAS asks only about convictions (and they state explicitly not to include dismissed arrests) and most secondaries I’ve seen asked only about convictions, however I know that ERAS has a question asking if anything in my record will prevent me from getting a license. I spoke with a medical licensing attorney and he said since my case was dismissed and sealed, that I shouldn’t have an issue anywhere. I’m wondering what other people in my shoes have dealt with and experienced and if it truly will be an issue for licensing and CBC? I can’t order a certiphi check on myself yet but since it’s sealed, everything should be non public to my knowledge (except for licensing boards which I plan to disclose to definitely).

 

[Moko]

Long story short, I was arrested recently but my case, under NYS, has been dismissed and sealed. I’m wondering how this might affect me later down the line for residency and licensing. I understand so far that AMCAS asks only about convictions (and they state explicitly not to include dismissed arrests) and most secondaries I’ve seen asked only about convictions, however I know that ERAS has a question asking if anything in my record will prevent me from getting a license. I spoke with a medical licensing attorney and he said since my case was dismissed and sealed, that I shouldn’t have an issue anywhere. I’m wondering what other people in my shoes have dealt with and experienced and if it truly will be an issue for licensing and CBC? I can’t order a certiphi check on myself yet but since it’s sealed, everything should be non public to my knowledge (except for licensing boards which I plan to disclose to definitely).

In my state, we are asked about both arrests and convictions during the licensing process: neither are automatic disqualifiers and those who answer 'yes' are given the opportunity to provide context and details. In some cases, the licensing process may require further documentation and/or a meeting with a panel.

You've consulted with a professional who specializes in this area, and I don't see any obvious reason to doubt their judgment here. The fact that you were not convicted also goes in your favor. Just my thoughts and best of luck.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Obligatory caveat here that I'm not a doctor. However (and I don't want to dox myself OK people), I have spent some time working with medical boards.

Practical advice here: just lie. Any time you are asked about this on an application, say you've never been convicted/etc. Surely "sealed" means it won't pop on a background check, yeah? You should have no issues, consider yourself VERY lucky.

Now, if it pops on a background check, you're screwed. But that attorney you talked with surely would have thought of this. I think you're gonna be fine.

Let me reiterate though, DO NOT admit this on any application, ever. Medical boards are not our friends. Some of them are great, most of them are filled to the brim with backwards awful people. Stay away from them.

If you know this will show up on a background check, you would need to fess up on the application, but at that point I'd just pick a different career. I think you're in luck though and this will be just as if it never happened.

 

[einvincible12]

It’s sealed. It never existed. You are fine. The medical board cannot get a search warrant to unseal the record.

 

[shakeshack]

Obligatory caveat here that I'm not a doctor. However (and I don't want to dox myself OK people), I have spent some time working with medical boards.

Practical advice here: just lie. Any time you are asked about this on an application, say you've never been convicted/etc. Surely "sealed" means it won't pop on a background check, yeah? You should have no issues, consider yourself VERY lucky.

Now, if it pops on a background check, you're screwed. But that attorney you talked with surely would have thought of this. I think you're gonna be fine.

Let me reiterate though, DO NOT admit this on any application, ever. Medical boards are not our friends. Some of them are great, most of them are filled to the brim with backwards awful people. Stay away from them.

If you know this will show up on a background check, you would need to fess up on the application, but at that point I'd just pick a different career. I think you're in luck though and this will be just as if it never happened.

I did alot of digging these past few months and found out that medical licensing boards use fingerprint based background checks that are unsuppressed, meaning sealed records will show sadly. They most likely will not show for Certiphi medical school checks, but may show for hospital credentialling. Am i effectively screwed? I was not convicted so I am hoping that works heavily in my favor, I was arrested and such, arraigned.

 

[Moko]

Obligatory caveat here that I'm not a doctor. However (and I don't want to dox myself OK people), I have spent some time working with medical boards.

Practical advice here: just lie. Any time you are asked about this on an application, say you've never been convicted/etc. Surely "sealed" means it won't pop on a background check, yeah? You should have no issues, consider yourself VERY lucky.

Now, if it pops on a background check, you're screwed. But that attorney you talked with surely would have thought of this. I think you're gonna be fine.

Let me reiterate though, DO NOT admit this on any application, ever. Medical boards are not our friends. Some of them are great, most of them are filled to the brim with backwards awful people. Stay away from them.

If you know this will show up on a background check, you would need to fess up on the application, but at that point I'd just pick a different career. I think you're in luck though and this will be just as if it never happened.

I agree that medical boards are not our friends, and marking 'yes' to a prior arrest (or really any of their questions) might trigger an annoying process of gathering documentations and meetings (depending on the severity of the crime). Anecdotally, certain states are known to be more stringent.

However, what's even worse than these logistical hurdles is being caught lying on your licensing application (even after the fact), having your license revoked, being unable to obtain licenses for other states (because you will be required to disclose this board action), possibly facing criminal charges, and being saddled with debt without a definitive way to pay it off and having lost around a decade to education and training.

Personally, I would not test the medical board by purposely lying. If they ask about convictions, the OP can safely answer 'no,' but if they ask about any prior arrests, I would answer 'yes' unless there are qualifiers that allow OP to truthfully answer 'no' (e.g. do not include dismissed or sealed charges, etc.). Just my thoughts.

 

[einvincible12]

You can check the quality of the sealing, in most cases the record of the arrest is also sealed. You can run your own FBI fingerprint background check for $25 if you want to see what comes up.

 

[Med Ed]

A sealed non-conviction isn't going to cause you any trouble.

As noted above, get your FBI check done and see what's there. You have the right to that information.
Contact the state police in the state where your incident happened and see what's on that record.
Contact the courthouse and see if they still have any records of the incident.
Those steps should give you a good idea as to what is findable. Unfortunately some commercial databases will extract arrest records and then not delete them after the sealing occurs.

If you are asked about convictions answer no. Some questions about arrests/charges explicitly say you don't have to disclosed sealed incidents. Others say you do. Just follow the directions. If you are not sure then contact the entity asking the question and get clarity. Don't ever lose your own records that indicate the arrest was sealed.

The pitfall in all of this isn't the arrest, it's the potential for discrepancy. If you are asked about convictions, answer no, and then an arrest record without conviction turns up, there is no discrepancy, so there is no problem.

 

[Hollow Knight]

I agree that medical boards are not our friends, and marking 'yes' to a prior arrest (or really any of their questions) might trigger an annoying process of gathering documentations and meetings (depending on the severity of the crime). Anecdotally, certain states are known to be more stringent.

However, what's even worse than these logistical hurdles is being caught lying on your licensing application (even after the fact), having your license revoked, being unable to obtain licenses for other states (because you will be required to disclose this board action), possibly facing criminal charges, and being saddled with debt without a definitive way to pay it off and having lost around a decade to education and training.

Personally, I would not test the medical board by purposely lying. If they ask about convictions, the OP can safely answer 'no,' but if they ask about any prior arrests, I would answer 'yes' unless there are qualifiers that allow OP to truthfully answer 'no' (e.g. do not include dismissed or sealed charges, etc.). Just my thoughts.

Yeah if they find out you lied, you're screwed.

I've heard different philosophies to this. In my case I'm specifically never going to practice in states that ask me about certain things because I don't want to lie on an application. But I have friends who are in those states who just took the gamble.......... but that freaks me out personally enough that I'll just avoid those states like the plague

 

[Hollow Knight]

I did alot of digging these past few months and found out that medical licensing boards use fingerprint based background checks that are unsuppressed, meaning sealed records will show sadly. They most likely will not show for Certiphi medical school checks, but may show for hospital credentialling. Am i effectively screwed? I was not convicted so I am hoping that works heavily in my favor, I was arrested and such, arraigned.

You're getting a lot of good advice in this thread from lots of people. The bottom line is I don't know. I know a couple of people personally who have been through the wringer with medical boards (going to court, spending tens of thousands of dollars to keep their license) for something as simple as being treated for MDD (I'm being vague with the details here of course for obvious reasons).

There are also several states that are great with physician wellness that wouldn't do that to you. You can always just apply to those for residency.

I'm not really sure how all the background checks work (again, other people are talking about this)- the issue I would be concerned about is going to get a medical license somewhere and having to disclose you were arrested. Even if you weren't convicted, the board can make your life a nightmare or just deny you a license altogether.

I'm not saying don't apply- but go talk to people who know about this stuff and do your research. You can even go look at the application process for medical boards in the states you plan to practice in and see what questions they ask about prior arrests, etc (like literally just google "California medical license application" and see what the application asks). I did that for my own situation (which I'm not getting into on this forum), and I'm only applying to residency in certain states where the licensing application is worded a certain way.

 

[Med Ed]

I'm not really sure how all the background checks work (again, other people are talking about this)- the issue I would be concerned about is going to get a medical license somewhere and having to disclose you were arrested. Even if you weren't convicted, the board can make your life a nightmare or just deny you a license altogether.

There are valid critiques of medical boards, but this is essentially fearmongering. There is zero reason to think any board in the country would be so capricious over an isolated non-conviction that has been sealed.

That said, one can certainly decide to avoid the whole issue by matching in practicing in a state with less invasive licensing questions.