“Reasonable notice” and “reasonable opportunity to be heard” are two highly important phrases to any Kentucky-based doctor whose professional license stands to be impacted. Crucially, the Legislature has included this very language in the law of the Commonwealth. (KRS 311.571(9)). Doctors must always acknowledge the following phrase: Just because the licensure board did it does not mean it is correct.
To say the least, physicians earn their credentials. After four years of college, four years of medical school, a residency, and countless hours in labs and libraries, they emerge from the halls of academia, ready to treat patients. However, there is one final step: the bestowment of licensure. To treat patients (legally), a physician must be licensed by the respective licensure board.
Where procedure must be followed en route to the issuance of a medical license, so too must it be followed when the government seeks to preclude. The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure (“KBML”) is bound to the same constitution (both federal and state) and must accordingly honor the due process granted by both. In other words, before the government infringes on a physician’s ability to obtain a license, certain steps must be satisfied.
In 2025, Strause Law Group scored an important win for physicians’ due process. In the Order Reversing and Remanding set forth by the Jefferson Circuit Court, the KBML is required to provide reasonable notice to physicians when their license application is being considered.
In fact, the Court, at Strause Law Group’s request, found that the KBML violated KRS 311.571(9) by failing to afford a reasonable time to allow the physician to appear before it. Importantly, this decision held the KBML to a reasonable notification standard—one that is grounded in the constitutions of both the United States and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is important that a doctor understand their rights pertaining to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.
