Can using the letters M.D. after a persons name, or Dr. as a prefix, subject the user to criminal charges?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes! Persons unfamiliar with California Business and Professions Code Section 2054, especially out-of-state physicians and graduates of foreign medical institutions not licensed in California, may not know that using the letters "M.D." "Dr." or the words doctor or physician in their correspondence, business advertising (even non-medical) or communications in California may result in a Medical Board investigation and even misdemeanor criminal charges.

Section 2054 states:

"Any person who uses in any sign, business card, or letterhead, or, in an advertisement, the words "doctor" or "physician," the letters or prefix "Dr.," the initials "M.D.," or any other terms or letters indicating or implying that he or she is a physician and surgeon, physician, surgeon, or practitioner under the terms of this or any other law, or that he or she is entitled to practice hereunder, or who represents or holds himself or herself out as a physician and surgeon, physician, surgeon, or practitioner under the terms of this or any other law, without having at the time of doing so a valid, unrevoked, and unsuspended certificate as a physician and surgeon under this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor."

The Medical Board of California takes this statute and its provisions seriously. Even if you have earned your Medical Doctor degree at a recognized institution and are licensed elsewhere, if you do not hold a currently valid California Physician and Surgeon's Certificate, the use of any of these terms can land the user in legal trouble with serious financial, professional and personal consequences. The fact that an individual residing or doing business in California may hold a medical degree and even an out-of-state or foreign medical license does not exempt them from the prohibitions in Section 2054 of the Code.