Quoted: cheating in med school and licensing in Mass

[Doodledog]

As with all such questions, consultation with a lawyer expert in the state of interest is best. However, I'm very doubtful this incident would prevent licensing in any state.

I my first year of medical school when I was immature and over-ambitious, I copied a friend's homework assignment. Even though it was a small assignment (e.g., not to a test), I was appropriately punished (probation) because it was still academic dishonesty. Though this happened 10 years ago, I still feel remorse today and honestly feel the incident has made me a better student and person. This was a single isolated incident during med school. So isolated and not consistent with my overall behavior in undergrad and med school that my Dean chose to leave it out of my Dean's Letter since he felt the school handled it internally and remaining 4 years of my schooling were superior. I did extremely well in residency and fellowship and have held 2 state licenses. I am thinking about applying for a Massachusetts license and they ask about "probation" in medical school and so I have to answer "yes" to this and explain. For the prior 2 state license applications, they did not ask about medical school probation (only probation in post-graduate training). I am nervous and not sure how the Massachusetts board will view my incident even though it was over 10 years ago and I have been practicing medicine for years without any further problems--academic, professional, malpractice, or legal. My medical school has offered to include a copy of my Dean's letter with their documentation to better explain my performance in medical school. Thoughts?

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[Torsed]

The board most likely will just ask for an explanation and if you say that, I don't see how they could hold it against you, especially since you've been practicing for a number of years without any problems. Honesty is probably the best policy. I really think the board is looking for big warning signs such as drug abuse and fradulent physicians, I would be surprised if this was a hold up to getting your license.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Probably not a problem but every board asks whether another state has ever denied your license. So, in the unlikely event that they did deny your license, this incident will become known to all the other state boards at application (maybe renewal, too, I can't remember). Just have to decide if its worth the small risk, I guess.