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 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 Board has amended this statute to allow exceptions for graduates of approved and recognized medical schools who are enrolled in an approved postgraduate training program, or physicians licensed in another state with an unrestricted license, and physicians training as fellows, as defined, to use these terms in statements of publications. However, the Medical Board of California takes this statute and its provisions seriously. The unauthorized use of any of these terms, leading others to believe or assume the user is a phyician or doctor, can land the user in legal trouble with serious financial, professional and personal consequences.