Legal stuff

[brianfromhawaii]

What theyll see is speculation?

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[ciestar]

What theyll see is speculation?

I'm not the DEA, so what do I know? (basically..)

 

[brianfromhawaii]

I see what you are saying. I wonder if I could give them a call tomorrow to ask them?

 

[brianfromhawaii]

Called the DEA, they said that to be safe I should say yes to that question, but shes seen way way worse than what I have and said that since it happened when I was so young it should not be a problem.

 

[brianfromhawaii]

Got a call back from a DEA investigator actually, he looked at my file (What nice people for doing this?!) and said that once my record is expunged, say no I have never been convicted, they will still be able to see it, but as long as it says it was expunged, they will not care. He said the same thing as the lady I first spoke with... a felony is not by any means a deal-breaker for getting your DEA license.

 

[gyngyn]

He went on to say that sometimes federal agencies do not honor state level deferrals, particularly immigration. I hope this will not be an issue, I wish there was someone I could contact about this.

Background checks by government hospitals have a deeper access to criminal records than the one used by most medical schools (Certiphi).
Medical schools that rely on these hospitals for clinical experience may have questions in their secondaries regarding charges as well as arrests and convictions.
The reason is to mitigate the delay or denial of an access badge.

 

[brianfromhawaii]

Background checks by government hospitals have a deeper access to criminal records than the one used by most medical schools (Certiphi).
Medical schools that rely on these hospitals for clinical experience may have questions in their secondaries regarding charges as well as arrests and convictions.
The reason is to mitigate the delay or denial of an access badge.

It would appear that you are correct, however according to the DEA agent I spoke with, I am not the first person going into medicine with a criminal record. Some of these people do not even have their records expunged, let alone a deferred sentence. My crime was not a question of my morals. Moral turpitude I think they call it?

I hope I will not have any issues. Have you ever heard of anyone being denied a badge?

 

[brianfromhawaii]

I just did some research and found a few nurses (with felonies, not deferred or expunged) that have been hired by state/gov hospitals, that means the have a badge right?

 

[whatbout2morrow]

Double check with your lawyer and maybe the Human Resources department of a teaching hospital, but in terms of badging, I don't think they can hold the actual offense against you if your record has been expunged. However, if you fail to mention it and it shows up on a background check, they can probably hold that against you.

 

[brianfromhawaii]

When the time comes, I will consult with my attorney. My lawyer seems to think that my record after expungement is clean in the eyes of the law, I may have to explain what happened if they ask about it, but thats about it.

 

[gyngyn]

It would appear that you are correct, however according to the DEA agent I spoke with, I am not the first person going into medicine with a criminal record. Some of these people do not even have their records expunged, let alone a deferred sentence. My crime was not a question of my morals. Moral turpitude I think they call it?

I hope I will not have any issues. Have you ever heard of anyone being denied a badge?

Yes, I have seen this happen just about every year. This is why there may be questions on the secondary that request this information.
Your charges are not likely to be a serious problem. Not reporting them if specifically asked in the secondary is where a problem could develop.

 

[brianfromhawaii]

Yes, I have seen this happen just about every year. This is why there may be questions on the secondary that request this information.
Your charges are not likely to be a serious problem. Not reporting them if specifically asked in the secondary is where a problem could develop.

Understood, it makes sense. Now here is an off topic (slightly) question.

Do you think I will have any trouble finding a job as a doctor with an expunged felony, assuming I make it to being an MD?

 

[gyngyn]

Understood, it makes sense. Now here is an off topic (slightly) question.

Do you think I will have any trouble finding a job as a doctor with an expunged felony, assuming I make it to being an MD?

Hospital privileges could be a problem for a crime of moral turpitude.

 

[brianfromhawaii]

Hospital privileges could be a problem for a crime of moral turpitude.

mine was drug related, i do not think that qualifies as moral turpitude?

 

[gyngyn]

mine was drug related, i do not think that qualifies as moral turpitude?

Usually not.

 

[brianfromhawaii]

I want to be an orthopedic surgeon, being able to be in the hospital is in my best interest

 

[Jache]

What is my solution here? Report that I was charged and that charges were dropped? Because that is exactly what happened.

The unfortunate issue here is that most government agencies including state licensure boards and the DEA aren't concerned with the legal runarounds asssociated with first offender and diversion programs. They don't care whether you are 'technically convicted', or whether charges were ultimately dropped. They care about the fact that you initially pled guilty, were found guilty, or pled nolo contendre to the crime at issue. Since you did, in fact, admit guilt you are guilty of felony drug crime and you will be evaluated as such by the powers . If you read a lot of the statutes on state board licensure websites, you'll notice that they often use the term 'convicted' in explaining sanctions, but they'll usually preface these documents by explaining deferred adjudications and other plea offers are considered one and the same as convictions for the purposes of the statutes and evaluating criteria of an applicant.

Hate to be a ball-buster with that, but I will let you know that I too am an aspiring doctor with a dismissed drug felony. So I know and understand intimately what you are going through. Best of luck.