Setting the Record Straight: Supreme Court Curtails TMB for Over-Sanctioning Physician

Eight years ago, when he experienced a rare patient death, McAllen family physician Ruben Aleman, MD, signed the death certificate the way Texas physicians had been doing it for years, and the only way he knew how: using pen and paper. That resulted in the Texas Medical Board (TMB) not only coming after him, but accusing him of "unprofessional or dishonorable conduct that is likely to deceive or defraud the public" - words found in the state Medical Practice Act. The Texas Supreme Court recently decided that was an overreach for a physician who simply hadn't signed up on the state's electronic death registration system, which at the time was relatively new.