A certificate issued by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery (ABCRS) may be subject to sanction such as revocation or suspension at any time if you are in some respect not properly qualified to receive it or no longer properly qualified to retain it. A certificate may be revoked for cause, including, but not limited to the reasons stated below.
The filing of an application for examination, participating in examination, and accepting a Certificate are voluntary acts. Therefore, the Board assumes no responsibility for any effect which certification or failure to obtain certification may have on private or professional activities of candidates.
When an application is submitted, candidates are required to sign an agreement, a portion of which reads as follows: “I agree to disqualification from examination or from the issuance of a certificate, and I agree to the forfeiture and redelivery of such certificate in the event that any of the statements herein made by me at this time or at any time in the past or future in regard to my application for a certificate is false, or in the event that any of the rules and regulations of the Board governing such examinations and certificate is violated by me.”
Certificates which have been issued are subject to the provisions of the General Information Book of The American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Inc. and may be revoked for violation of any of these provisions.
Any certificate issued by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery (ABCRS) may be subject to sanction such as revocation or suspension at any time that the directors shall determine, in their sole judgment, that the diplomate holding the certificate was in some respect not properly qualified to receive it or is no longer properly qualified to retain it. At its discretion, the Board may revoke or suspend a Diplomates certificate for cause, including, but not limited to:
Unethical and unprofessional behavior is denoted by any dishonest behavior, including: cheating; lying; falsifying information; misrepresenting one’s educational background, certification status and/or professional experience; and failure to report misconduct. The American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery has adopted a “zero tolerance” policy toward these behaviors, and individuals caught exhibiting such behaviors risk being permanently barred from certification, reported to state medical boards, and/or legally prosecuted for copyright or other violations.
Unethical behavior is specifically defined by the ABCRS to include the disclosure, publication, reproduction or transmission of ABCRS examinations, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, verbal or written, electronic or mechanical, for any purposes. This also extends to sharing examination information or discussing an examination while still in progress. Unethical behavior also includes the possession, reproduction or disclosure of materials or information, including examination questions or answers or specific information regarding the content of the examination, before, during or after the examination. This definition specifically includes the recall and reconstruction of examination questions by any means and such efforts may violate federal copyright law. All ABCRS examinations are copyrighted and protected by law; the ABCRS will prosecute violations to the full extent provided by law and seek monetary damages for any loss of examination materials.
