(Courtesy: Facebook)
Rey Gonzalez Jr., a Harlingen lawyer and two-time congressional candidate, has been issued a cease-and-desist order by the Texas Medical Board over his use of the title “doctor.”
The order was signed and entered by TMB Executive Director Stephen Brint Carlton on Feb. 26. The document notes that Gonzalez, who ran as a Republican for U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela’s District 34 congressional seat in 2016 and 2020, had appeared before the board via videoconference with a lawyer present.
The order states that Gonzalez graduated in 2008 with a Doctor of Medicine degree from Ross University, which is located in Barbados. TMB rules dictate that a medical school graduates may use the initials M.D. or D.O. after their names, but may not refer to themselves as “Dr.” unless they are licensed to practice medicine in any jurisdiction of the state, which Gonzalez is not.
The order notes that Gonzalez referred to himself as “doctor,” “physician,” “medical doctor” and “Dr.” in campaign videos, social media and advertising, and in interviews. The document states that Gonzalez told the board on Oct. 1, 2020, that he would stop referring to himself as a physician and “attempt to correct anyone who does so in the future” but continued using the designations on his website and social media.
The state’s Healing Art Identification Act requires licensed healing arts practitioners to designate which healing art they are licensed to practice, while a person using the title “doctor” must “designate the authority under which the title issued or the college or honorary degree that gives rise to the use of the title, according to the order.
By not meeting those requirements and still calling himself a physician, Gonzalez is in violation of the HAIA, which triggered the board’s cease-and-desist order. The Texas Occupational Code allows for an administrative penalty of “up to $5,000 for each violation to be assessed, and each day of a violation constitutes a separate violation.”
TMB ordered that Gonzalez “is prohibited from acting as, or holding himself out to be, a licensed physician in the State of Texas,” and from referring to himself as a doctor or physician in any way unless he designates the authority, college or honorary degree that gives him the legal right to do so.
“Any violation of this Order constitutes grounds for imposing an administrative penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation, and/or each day of a continuing violation, of the Medical Practice Act.”
Reached by phone Wednesday, Gonzalez declined to comment. As of late Wednesday afternoon, active Facebook and Twitter campaign accounts still identified him as “Dr. Rey Gonzalez.”
