The Decay of California's Prohibition of the Corporate Practice of Medicine
Business Law News, State Bar of California, Issue 2, 2015
6 Pages Posted: 2 Jul 2015
Date Written: June 24, 2015
Abstract
In the 1990s, dentists in North Carolina began to whiten teeth. A decade later, nondentists across the state began to provide the same services, but at a lower price. In 2006, the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners (the “N.C. Dental Board”) responded by issuing more than 47 cease-and-desist letters to parties whitening teeth without degrees in dentistry, and in 2007 the N.C. Dental Board enlisted the aid of the North Carolina Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners to issue similar warnings, specifically to cosmetologists Their combined efforts were successful, and North Carolina nondentists soon stopped offering teeth whitening services.
The United States Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) took exception to the actions by the N.C. Dental Board, and in 2010 the FTC filed an administrative complaint, alleging the N.C. Dental Board acted deliberately for the benefit of North Carolina dentists and to the detriment of North Carolina nondentists. According to the FTC, these anticompetitive and unfair tactics violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, and in particular Section 5.
In its 6-3 decision referring to the roles of dentists and nondentists in North Carolina, the Supreme Court reached a far greater audience than those concerned with tooth color in the Tar Heel state. In point of fact, the Court’s ruling did much to undermine most if not all authority held by professional organizations in California, including in particular the Medical Board of California (“MBC”). This article explores how and why such change came about.
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