Gerner

Background Dr. Gerner, licensed as a physician by the Board since 1973, was Board Certified in Psychiatry in 1977. On March 23, 2014, the Board received a written consumer complaint from one of Dr. Gerner’s patients—identified in this proceeding as T.O.— regarding care he had received from Dr. Gerner. Concluding that the complaint indicated Dr. Gerner may have engaged in unprofessional conduct, gross negligence, or excess treatment and prescribing in violation of various Business and Professions Code provisions, the Board opened an investigation.

1 The Board is an entity within the Department of Consumer Affairs, with responsibility for licensing, regulating, investigating, and disciplining physicians. (Bus. & Prof. Code, §§ 2001, 2004, 2460.) Our references to the Board include agencies and individuals to whom its investigative functions are delegated. 2 Although an order requiring compliance with an administrative investigatory subpoena has been held to be appealable as a final judgment in a special proceeding, this court may also review the order’s merits by extraordinary writ. (Wood v. Superior Court (1985) 166 Cal.App.3d 1138, 1140.)

2 On June 21, 2014, the investigation…