§ 59-585. Revocation or suspension of certificate - Grounds - Unprofessional and unethical conduct defined - Practice under own name - Notice and hearing of revocation or suspension - Reissuance of certificate - Out-of-state revocation or suspension.

A.  The Board shall have the power to revoke or suspend any certificate granted by it pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, for fraud, conviction of crime, unprofessional and unethical conduct, habitual drunkenness, exorbitant charges, false representation of goods, gross incompetency, contagious disease, any violation of any rule or regulation promulgated by the Board pursuant to the provisions of this chapter or any violation of this chapter.  The following acts shall be deemed by the Board as unprofessional and unethical conduct:

1.  Employment by a licensed optometrist of any person to solicit from house to house the sale of lenses, frames, spectacles, or optometric services or examinations; and

2.  Selling, advertising, or soliciting the sale of spectacles, eyeglasses, lenses, frames, mountings, eye examinations, or optometric services by house-to-house canvassing either in person or through solicitors; and

3.  Acceptance of employment, either directly or indirectly, by a licensed optometrist from an unlicensed optometrist or person engaged in any profession or business or owning or operating any profession or business to assist it, him, or them in practicing optometry in this state; and

4.  Publishing or displaying, or knowingly causing or permitting to be published or displayed by newspaper, radio, television, window display, poster, sign, billboard, or any other advertising media any statement or advertisement of any price or fee offered or charged by an optometrist for any optometric services or materials including lenses, frames, eyeglasses, or spectacles or parts thereof, including statements or advertisements of discount, premium, or gifts, if said statements or advertisements are fraudulent, deceitful, misleading or in any manner whatsoever tend to create a misleading impression or are likely to mislead or deceive because in context said statements or advertisements make only a partial disclosure of relevant facts; and

5.  No person shall practice optometry under any name other than the proper name of said person and it shall be the same name as used in the license issued by the Board of Examiners to said person. Before any certificate is revoked or suspended, the holder thereof shall be provided with notice and hearing as provided for in the Administrative Procedures Act, Sections 301 through 326 of Title 75 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The Board, after the expiration of the period of three (3) months after the date of said revocation, may entertain application for the reissuance of said revoked certificate and may reissue said certificate upon payment of a reinstatement fee not to exceed three times the annual renewal fee.  The Board shall have the right to promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to put into effect the provisions of this chapter.  Said rules may prescribe which acts are detrimental to the general public health or welfare and may prescribe a minimum standard of sanitation, hygiene, and professional surroundings, and which acts constitute unprofessional or unethical conduct.  Said conduct shall be grounds for revocation or suspension of the license or certificate issued pursuant to the provisions of Section 584 of this title.

B.  If an out-of-state license or certificate of an optometrist who also holds an Oklahoma license or certificate is suspended or revoked for any reason, his Oklahoma license may come under review by the Board.  Should the out-of-state suspension or revocation be on grounds the same or similar to grounds for suspension or revocation in Oklahoma, the Board, after notice and hearing pursuant to the provisions of this section, may suspend or revoke the certificate of said optometrist to practice in Oklahoma.

Amended by Laws 1983, c. 14, § 1, emerg. eff. March 25, 1983.