82R9345 JAM-F
By: Uresti S.B. No. 1264
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the practice of podiatry.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 202.001(a)(4), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(4) "Podiatry" means the treatment of or offer to
treat any disease, disorder, physical injury, deformity, or ailment
of the human foot and ankle by any system or method. The term
includes podiatric medicine.
SECTION 2. Section 202.253(a), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The board may refuse to admit a person to an
examination, and may refuse to issue a license to practice podiatry
to a person, for:
(1) presenting to the board a license, certificate, or
diploma that was illegally or fraudulently obtained or engaging in
fraud or deception in passing the examination;
(2) being convicted of:
(A) a felony;
(B) a crime that involves moral turpitude; or
(C) an offense under Section 202.606;
(3) engaging in habits of intemperance or drug
addiction that in the board's opinion would endanger the health,
well-being, or welfare of patients;
(4) engaging in grossly unprofessional or
dishonorable conduct of a character that in the board's opinion is
likely to deceive or defraud the public;
(5) directly or indirectly violating or attempting to
violate this chapter or a rule adopted under this chapter as a
principal, accessory, or accomplice;
(6) using any advertising statement of a character
tending to mislead or deceive the public;
(7) advertising professional superiority or the
performance of professional service in a superior manner;
(8) purchasing, selling, bartering, or using or
offering to purchase, sell, barter, or use a podiatry degree,
license, certificate, diploma, or a transcript of a license,
certificate, or diploma, in or incident to an application to the
board for a license to practice podiatry;
(9) altering, with fraudulent intent, a podiatry
license, certificate, diploma, or a transcript of a podiatry
license, certificate, or diploma;
(10) using a podiatry license, certificate, or
diploma, or a transcript of a podiatry license, certificate, or
diploma, that has been fraudulently purchased, issued,
counterfeited, or materially altered;
(11) impersonating, or acting as proxy for, another
person in a podiatry license examination;
(12) impersonating a license holder, or permitting
another person to use the license holder's license to practice
podiatry in this state, to treat or offer to treat, by any method,
conditions and ailments of human feet and ankles;
(13) directly or indirectly employing a person whose
license to practice podiatry has been suspended or associating in
the practice of podiatry with a person whose license to practice
podiatry has been suspended or who has been convicted of the
unlawful practice of podiatry in this state or elsewhere;
(14) wilfully making in the application for a license
to practice podiatry a material misrepresentation or material
untrue statement;
(15) being unable to practice podiatry with reasonable
skill and safety to a patient because of age, illness, drunkenness,
or excessive use of drugs, narcotics, chemicals, or other
substances or as a result of a mental or physical condition;
(16) failing to practice podiatry in an acceptable
manner consistent with public health and welfare;
(17) being removed, suspended, or disciplined in
another manner by the podiatrist's peers in a professional podiatry
association or society, whether local, regional, state, or national
in scope, or being disciplined by a licensed hospital or the medical
staff of a hospital, including removal, suspension, limitation of
hospital privileges, or other disciplinary action, if the board
determines that the action was:
(A) based on unprofessional conduct or
professional incompetence likely to harm the public; and
(B) appropriate and reasonably supported by
evidence submitted to the association, society, hospital, or
medical staff; or
(18) having repeated or recurring meritorious health
care liability claims filed against the podiatrist that in the
board's opinion are evidence of professional incompetence likely to
injure the public.
SECTION 3. Section 202.254(d), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) The examination must cover the subjects of anatomy,
chemistry, dermatology, diagnosis, pharmacology, pathology,
physiology, microbiology, orthopedics, and podiatry, as related to
ailments of the human foot and ankle.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.