Petitioner Brent Anthony Hill urges reinstatement of surrendered chiropractic license; board to decide in closed session

Brent Anthony Hill asked the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners on Oct. 24, 2024, to reinstate his surrendered chiropractic license (DC 18107), telling the panel he has spent eight years pursuing professional remediation and further education and that he is now enrolled in medical school.

Hill testified under oath, recounted the circumstances that led to his 2016 stipulated surrender and said he has completed numerous continuing-education and ethics courses since then. "I did what I did was wrong and I will never do it again," Hill said, asking the board to consider his documented rehabilitation and community work, including recent foster-parenting responsibilities.

Deputy Attorney General Caitlin Gaugherty summarized the Board's record and the operative second amended accusation, saying the administrative pleading alleged that between 2010 and 2015 Hill engaged in multiple supervisory and practice failures: permitting subordinates to dispense or administer controlled substances (including testosterone) without valid prescriptions or a supervising physician present, exceeding the chiropractic scope of practice, inadequate patient evaluations and recordkeeping, improper billing practices, and acts the Board characterized as involving moral turpitude. Gaugherty told the board that the prior stipulated surrender was adopted by Board order on March 10, 2016, that it included a cost-recovery obligation of $44,177.68, and that a prior petition for reinstatement had been denied on Dec. 8, 2022.

In cross-examination, Gaugherty and several board members pressed Hill on specifics of his past practice and on evidence of rehabilitation. Vice President Lawrence Adams pressed Hill about his prior responses to the Board's allegations and whether he accepted them when he filed his reinstatement petition. After extended questioning, Hill responded that he would "own and accept what I signed" and answered "yes" when asked if he would accept the allegations set forth in the second amended accusation for purposes of the petition record.

Board members repeatedly asked whether conditions tied to reinstatement would be acceptable; President David Paris and others asked if Hill would agree to post-licensure safeguards such as ethics/boundaries assessments, special-purpose examinations or supervision. Hill said he would accept additional conditions and described a plan to practice part time under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Anderson if reinstated.

Gaugherty also objected to certain hearsay statements during Hill's testimony (for example, assertions about a judge's reasoning for sealing records), and the judge sustained hearsay objections to the extent the factual assertions were not supported by direct documents in evidence.

After closing remarks from the parties, the judge asked whether the matter was submitted: "The matter submitted," Gaugherty said, and Hill answered "yes." The judge closed the record and said the board would deliberate in closed session; no decision was announced in open session.

Next steps: the Board convened to closed session to consider the petition and did not release a public decision on Oct. 24. Any formal action on Hill's petition will be reflected in the Board's minutes or subsequent public notice when a decision is reached.