"Moral Turpitiude" Blooms in Ohio

Many hospitals, state medical boards and physician employment contracts have reference to disqualification for "moral turpitude." We can all conjur up some concept of moral depravity which would legitimately give rise to collective disgust and a refusal to share comity with the offender. The State Medical Board of Ohio appears to be religious in enforcing moral constraints among its physicians.  Ohio proscribes any misdemeanor involving "moral turpitude. Enter Dr. Azber Asher Ansar, M.D., an internist licensed in Ohio and about a dozen other states.  Dr. Ansar, a Veteran's Affairs physician practicing in Minneapolis, plead guilty to a misdemeanor false police filing in Minnesota emanating from a bitter divorce dispute with his wife.

Dr. Ansar apparently stabbed himself in front of one of his children, threw the knife in the car and then filed a  police report charging the wife with stabbing him.  He quickly retracted the allegation, but was already in the soup. Back at the ranch in Ohio, the Ohio Board caught wind of his plea and charged him with committing a misdemeanor of moral turpitude and imposed a six months suspension in Ohio, which of course will be reported to the dozen or more other jurisidictions in which he holds a license. There is a snowball effect in having too many licenses particularly when faced with the moral vigilence of this degree in a state in which he is not currently practicing. Dr. Ansar, representing himself, appealed to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, where his objections to the suspension were noted and dismissed.  Moral turpitude seems to be one of those concepts that surfaces in the eye of the beholder. My guess is that there ils a lot of it going arouond and that it is important to be the decider rather than the decidee when contemplating the concept. This appears to be particularly true in Ohio. Counseling might have helped.

Comments

[Azber Ansar, MD]

Thank you for elaborating on the issue of "Moral Turpitude." This case was also appealed to the Tenth District Court of Appeals in Ohio. Moral Turpitude is defined by Ohio Law as an act characrerized by "baseness, vileness or the depravity in private and social duties which man owes to his fellow man or to society in general." Obviously all misdemeanors are not crimes of Moral Turpitude but by definition any Misdemeanor offense involves a breach of social duty man owes to his fellow man or society in general. The main issue is whether the act involves baseness, vileness, depravity and lack of mature social conscience.

The facts depicted in my case are only the tip of the iceberg. It does not reveal the core facts of the case that involved false allegations of Domestic Abuse that were dismissed in a court of law. A normal and ordinary human being can respond sometimes in an inexplicable manner if falsely accused of despicable acts.

I am not justifying that my act was right. It was very wrong and irresponsible and I highly regret it but the multiple factors culminating to my actions were never explored by the State Medical Board of Ohio.

How can a person lacking a mature social conscience have on his own told the truth to the police on the illfated day the incident occurred. I could simply have not told the truth and my now ex-wife would have gone to jail. I did have a mature conscience and chose the avenue of truth. In your article you are right when you say that "he was already in the soup" as the act had been committed before I told the truth (even though it was 4-5 minutes later).

It is interesting that 15 State Medical Boards did not deem my actions to be Moral Turpitude nor did they deem it to have violated their respective state statutes. I self-reported the act to all the 16 states that I hold an active medical license in, including Ohio and only Ohio took action. The facts of this case were before various state medical boards and multiple sets of peers reviewed the facts.

The snowballing is a very dangerous phenomenon and even though the other states did not take any action against my licenses they were fully authorized to take action against my license based soley on the sister state action in Ohio. The Ohio action set forth a cascade of actions in multiple states. This case should set an example for physicians seeking licensure in multiple jurisdictions. The Federation of State Medical Boards is proposing "National Licensure" and I wonder that should National Licensure become the norm then cases similar to mine may become more difficult to assess. It is possible that multiple sets of peers may contradict themself.

This case is now up to the level of the Third District Court of Appeals in California. The multiple pleadings can be viewed at www.saccourt.com (Case #2008-00006462).

Dealing with multiple false spousal allegations can be very traumatic along with abrupt separation from ones child. The damage cannot be measured. This coupled with multiple state medical board and court hearings can be devastating to ones career and financial health. I do not think that any amount of counseling could have helped, but I could be wrong. Most US states have statutes authorizing discipline based on an act of moral turpitude committed in the course of ones practice and SUBSTANTIALLY related to the practice of Medicine. My act was not substantially related to the practice of Medicine yet I had to face licensure turmoil in multiple states as the State Medical Board of Ohio was authorized to take action on an act that was not substantially related to the practice of medicine pursuant to Ohio Revised Code. Thank you again for elaborating on a very sensitive and controversial topic.