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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>72375</law_id><section_number>54.1-3215</section_number><catch_line>Board actions; reprimand, suspension, revocation, etc</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="54.1">Professions and Occupations</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="III">Professions and Occupations Regulated by Boards Within the Department of Health Professions</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="32">Optometry</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="3">Licensure of Optometrists</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>The <span class="dictionary">Board</span> may refuse to admit an applicant to any examination; refuse to grant or renew a license or certificate; reprimand, place on <span class="dictionary">probation</span>, or impose a monetary <span class="dictionary">penalty</span> on a licensee; or impose such terms as it may designate, suspend for a stated period of time, or revoke any license or certificate for any of the following causes:</p></section>
						<section id="1"><p><span class="prefix-number">1.</span> <span class="dictionary">Fraud</span> or deceit in his practice; <a id="paragraph-260708" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#1"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="2"><p><span class="prefix-number">2.</span> <span class="dictionary">Conviction</span> of any <span class="dictionary">felony</span> under the <span class="dictionary">laws</span> of the Commonwealth, another state, the District of Columbia, or any United States <span class="dictionary">possession</span> or territory or of any <span class="dictionary">misdemeanor</span> under such <span class="dictionary">laws</span> involving <span class="dictionary">moral turpitude</span>; <a id="paragraph-260709" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#2"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="3"><p><span class="prefix-number">3.</span> Conducting his practice in such a manner as to endanger the health and welfare of his patients or the public; <a id="paragraph-260710" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#3"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="4"><p><span class="prefix-number">4.</span> Use of alcohol or drugs to the extent such use renders him unsafe to practice optometry or mental or physical illness rendering him unsafe to practice optometry; <a id="paragraph-260711" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#4"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="5"><p><span class="prefix-number">5.</span> Knowingly and willfully employing an unlicensed person to do anything for which a license to practice optometry is required; <a id="paragraph-260712" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#5"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="6"><p><span class="prefix-number">6.</span> Neglecting or refusing to display his license for the current year; <a id="paragraph-260713" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#6"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="7"><p><span class="prefix-number">7.</span> Obtaining of any fee by <span class="dictionary">fraud</span> or misrepresentation or the practice of deception or <span class="dictionary">fraud</span> upon any patient; <a id="paragraph-260714" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#7"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="8"><p><span class="prefix-number">8.</span> Advertising that directly or indirectly deceives, misleads, or defrauds the public, claims professional superiority, or offers free optometrical services or examinations; <a id="paragraph-260715" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#8"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="9"><p><span class="prefix-number">9.</span> Employing, procuring, or inducing a person not licensed to practice optometry to so practice; <a id="paragraph-260716" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#9"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="10"><p><span class="prefix-number">10.</span> Aiding or abetting in the <span class="dictionary">practice of optometry</span> any person not duly licensed to practice in the Commonwealth; <a id="paragraph-260717" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#10"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="11"><p><span class="prefix-number">11.</span> Advertising, practicing, or attempting to practice optometry under a name other than one&#x2019;s own name as set forth on the license; <a id="paragraph-260718" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#11"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="12"><p><span class="prefix-number">12.</span> Lending, leasing, renting, or in any other manner placing his license at the disposal or in the service of any person not licensed to practice optometry in the Commonwealth; <a id="paragraph-260719" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#12"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="13"><p><span class="prefix-number">13.</span> Splitting or dividing a fee with any person or persons other than with a licensed <span class="dictionary">optometrist</span> who is a legal partner or comember of a professional limited liability company formed to engage in the <span class="dictionary">practice of optometry</span>; <a id="paragraph-260720" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#13"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="14"><p><span class="prefix-number">14.</span> Practicing optometry where any officer, employee, or agent of a commercial or mercantile establishment, as defined in subsection C of &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Practicing in a commercial or mercantile establishment" href="/54.1-3205/">54.1-3205</a>, who is not licensed in the Commonwealth to practice optometry or medicine directly or indirectly controls, dictates, or influences the professional <span class="dictionary">judgment</span>, including but not limited to the level or type of care or services rendered, of the licensed <span class="dictionary">optometrist</span>; <a id="paragraph-260721" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#14"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="15"><p><span class="prefix-number">15.</span> Violating other standards of conduct as adopted by the <span class="dictionary">Board</span>; <a id="paragraph-260722" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#15"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="16"><p><span class="prefix-number">16.</span> Violating, assisting, inducing, or cooperating with others in violating any provisions of <span class="dictionary">law</span> relating to the <span class="dictionary">practice of optometry</span>, including the provisions of this chapter or of any regulation of the <span class="dictionary">Board</span>. <a id="paragraph-260723" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-3215/#16"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 54-388; 1968, c. 505; 1976, c. 758; 1977, c. 161; 1979, c. 39; 1988, c. 765; 1990, c. 307; 1992, c. 574; 1999, c. 937; 2023, c. 268.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
