Texas Occupations Code 154.057 – Conduct of Investigation; Use of Investigators as Peace Officers
(a) Except as otherwise provided by this subchapter, each investigation of a complaint filed under this subtitle shall be conducted by the board or by a person authorized by the board to conduct the investigation.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (b-1), the board shall complete a preliminary investigation of the complaint not later than the 45th day after the date of receiving the complaint. The board shall first determine whether the physician constitutes a continuing threat to the public welfare. On completion of the preliminary investigation, the board shall determine whether to officially proceed on the complaint. If the board fails to complete the preliminary investigation in the time required by this subsection, the board’s official investigation of the complaint is considered to commence on that date.
Terms Used In Texas Occupations Code 154.057
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Board: means the Texas Medical Board. See Texas Occupations Code 151.002
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Continuing threat to the public welfare: means a real danger to the health of a physician's patients or to the public from the acts or omissions of the physician caused through the physician's lack of competence, impaired status, or failure to care adequately for the physician's patients, as determined by:
(A) the board;
(B) a medical peer review committee in this state;
(C) a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state or otherwise lawfully practicing medicine in this state;
(D) a physician engaged in graduate medical education or training; or
(E) a medical student. See Texas Occupations Code 151.002 - Person: means an individual, unless the term is expressly made applicable to a partnership, association, or corporation. See Texas Occupations Code 151.002
- Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine in this state. See Texas Occupations Code 151.002
(b-1) The board, for good cause, may extend a preliminary investigation under Subsection (b) for not more than 15 days after the date required for completion under that subsection.
(c) The board may commission investigators as peace officers to enforce this subtitle. An investigator commissioned as a peace officer under this subsection may not carry a firearm or exercise the powers of arrest.