(1) If the director has reasonable cause to believe that a registrant is unable to perform the duties of a surgical assistant or surgical technologist, as appropriate, with reasonable skill and safety, the director may order the registrant to undergo a mental or physical examination administered by a physician or other licensed health care professional designated by the director. Unless due to circumstances beyond the registrant's control, if the registrant refuses to undergo a mental or physical examination, the director may suspend the registrant's registration until the results of the examination are known and the director has made a determination of the registrant's fitness to perform the duties of a surgical assistant or surgical technologist. The director shall proceed with an order for examination and shall make his or her determination in a timely manner.
An order requiring a registrant to undergo a mental or physical examination shallcontain the basis of the director's reasonable cause to believe that the registrant is unable to work with reasonable skill and safety. For purposes of a disciplinary proceeding authorized under this article 310, the registrant shall be deemed to have waived all objections to the admissibility of the examining physician's or other licensed health care professional's testimony or examination reports on the ground that they are privileged communications.
The registrant may submit to the director testimony or examination reports from aphysician or other licensed health care professional chosen by the registrant and pertaining to any condition that the director has alleged may preclude the registrant from working with reasonable skill and safety. The testimony and reports submitted by the registrant may be considered by the director in conjunction with, but not in lieu of, testimony and examination reports from the physician or other licensed health care professional designated by the director.
The results of a mental or physical examination ordered by the director shall not beused as evidence in any proceeding other than one before the director and shall not be deemed a public record or made available to the public.
Source: L. 2019: Entire title R&RE with relocations, (HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 1616, § 1, effective October 1.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 12-43.2-106 as it existed prior to 2019.