Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 4731
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 4731.41 (2026)

Practicing medicine without license or certificate

✓ current as of May 2026
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Effective:
March 22, 2019
Latest Legislation:
House Bill 541 - 132nd General Assembly
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(A) No person shall practice medicine and surgery, or any of its branches, without the appropriate license or certificate from the state medical board to engage in the practice. No person shall advertise or claim to the public to be a practitioner of medicine and surgery, or any of its branches, without a license or certificate from the board. No person shall open or conduct an office or other place for such practice without a license or certificate from the board. No person shall conduct an office in the name of some person who has a license or certificate to practice medicine and surgery, or any of its branches. No person shall practice medicine and surgery, or any of its branches, after the person's license or certificate has been revoked, or, if suspended, during the time of such suspension.

A license or certificate signed by the secretary of the board to which is affixed the official seal of the board to the effect that it appears from the records of the board that no such license or certificate to practice medicine and surgery, or any of its branches, in this state has been issued to the person specified therein, or that a license or certificate to practice, if issued, has been revoked or suspended, shall be received as prima-facie evidence of the record of the board in any court or before any officer of the state.

(B) No license or certificate from the state medical board is required by a physician who comes into this state to practice medicine at a free-of-charge camp accredited by the SeriousFun children's network that specializes in providing therapeutic recreation, as defined in section 2305.231 of the Revised Code, for individuals with chronic illnesses as long as all of the following apply:

(1) The physician provides documentation to the medical director of the camp that the physician is licensed and in good standing to practice medicine in another state;

(2) The physician provides services only at the camp or in connection with camp events or camp activities that occur off the grounds of the camp;

(3) The physician receives no compensation for the services;

(4) The physician provides those services within this state for not more than thirty days per calendar year;

(5) The camp has a medical director who holds an unrestricted license to practice medicine issued in accordance with division (A) of this section.

(C) Division (A) of this section does not apply to a person who meets both of the following conditions :

(1) The person holds in good standing a valid license to practice medicine and surgery issued by another state.

(2) The person is practicing as a volunteer without remuneration during a charitable event that lasts not more than seven days.

When a person meets the conditions of this division, the person shall be deemed authorized by the state medical board, during the course of the charitable event, to practice medicine and surgery and shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter authorizing the board to take disciplinary action against a physician. Not less than seven calendar days before the first day of the charitable event, the person or the event's organizer shall notify the board of the person's intent to practice medicine and surgery at the event. During the course of the charitable event, the person's scope of practice is limited to the procedures that a physician authorized under this chapter to practice medicine and surgery is authorized to perform unless the person's scope of practice in the other state is more restrictive than in this state. If the latter is the case, the person's scope of practice is limited to the procedures that a physician in the other state may perform.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 23 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1956–2025 · leading case: State v. Annable, 2011 Ohio 2029 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011).
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State v. Annable, 2011 Ohio 2029 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 12× “CR-517594 and CR-521710, but the indictment in this case was under R.C. 4731.41. We find no error with these inconsistencies.”
Wilson v. Marino, 843 N.E.2d 849 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 6× “R.C. 4731.41. People are considered to be engaging in the practice of medicine if they (1) use the words “Dr.”
Schelling v. Humphrey, 2009 Ohio 4175 (Ohio 2009). · cites it 2× “2d 1038 , citing R.C. 4731.41. {¶ 15} A hospital does not need “to constantly supervise and second- guess the activities of its physicians,” or to “ ‘pass upon the efficacy of treatment’ ” or “ ‘decide for a doctor whether an operation is necessary.”
Albain v. Flower Hosp., 553 N.E.2d 1038 (Ohio 1990). “R.C. 4731.41. “* * * [A hospital] is not required to pass upon the efficacy of treatment; it may not decide for a doctor whether an operation is necessary, or, if one be necessary, the nature thereof; but it owes to every patient whom it admits the duty of saving him from an…”
State ex rel. Rouch v. Eagle Tool & Mach. Co., 498 N.E.2d 464 (Ohio 1986). “R.C. 4731.41 forbids the practice of medicine by any person not licensed by the State Medical Board.”
State v. Nucklos, 869 N.E.2d 674 (Ohio Ct. App. 2007). “R.C. 4731.41 prohibits the practice of medicine “without the appropriate certificate from the state medical board to engage in the practice.”
Hale v. Volunteers of Am., 816 N.E.2d 259 (Ohio Ct. App. 2004). “17 The appellate court reasoned that while R.C. 4731.41, the statute upon which she had relied, made it a criminal offense to engage in the unauthorized practice of medicine, the statute did not specifically prohibit an employer from terminating one who had reported the…”
Barbee v. Finerty, 654 N.E.2d 364 (Ohio Ct. App. 1995). · cites it 3× “2 “The trial court erred in granting the defendant’s summary judgment motion where the defendant invaded the field of a medical doctor under R.C. 4731.41.” Assignment of Error No. 3 “Since defendant exceeded the scope of podiatry and invaded the field of medical doctors as…”
State v. Willan, 2011 Ohio 6603 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011). “02 if one lends repeatedly and does not obtain the requisite license. To construe this statute as imposing strict liability would also raise due process concerns because it criminalizes a failure to act, when the offender would not necessarily have any notice of his obligation…”
Moe v. Yost, 2025 Ohio 914 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025). “, R.C. 4731.41(A) (regarding licensure of physicians); R.”
State v. Brien, 139 N.E.2d 640 (Ohio Ct. App. 1956). · cites it 8× “The defendant was charged with the violation of Section 4731.41, Revised Code. In the indictment it is charged that the defendant “unlawfully did practice medicine, or some of its branches, without a certificate from the State Medical Board of the State of Ohio, contrary to the…”
McCarthy v. Ohio State Med. Bd., 579 N.E.2d 517 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989). · cites it 2× “99 2 , which provides as follows: “(A) Whoever violates section 4731.41 or 4731.43 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree on a first offense; on each subsequent offense, such person is guilty of a felony of the fourth degree.”
Show all 23 citing cases →
— Ohio Rev. Code § 4731.41(A) — 2 cases
Moe v. Yost, 2025 Ohio 914 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025). “, R.C. 4731.41(A) (regarding licensure of physicians); R.”
State v. Fong, 2025 Ohio 1580 (Ohio Ct. App. 2025).
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