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Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer BlogOWI With a Minor Passenger: The Misdemeanor DUI That Can End a Healthcare Career in Michigan
If you are a physician, nurse, advanced practice provider, dentist, or other licensed healthcare professional in Michigan, an OWI charge may threaten your license, your job, and your reputation. But Operating While Intoxicated with a minor passenger, often called OWI child endangerment, is uniquely dangerous for many licensed health care professionals is because it can be treated as “endangering others,” in this case children, and that framing can trigger Medicare and Medicaid consequences that do not typically attach to other misdemeanor OWI offenses.
The consequence framework that governs licensed healthcare professionals across all categories of criminal charge, and why the decisions made at the charging and plea stages often determine whether federal program exclusion is triggered, is addressed in the firm’s analysis of criminal charges and licensed healthcare professionals in Michigan.
The criminal case is only the beginning. A single misdemeanor conviction under Michigan’s OWI with a minor passenger enhancement can create a domino effect involving Medicaid termination for a minimum period of five (5) years, Medicare enrollment revocation, licensure emergency action, controlled substance and DEA consequences, national reporting, and exclusion from federally funded healthcare work.