TALLAHASSEE — After the state Department of Health called for revoking the doctor’s license, the Florida Board of Medicine this week issued a final order imposing a $10,000 fine and reprimanding a physician who did not comply in 2022 with a law requiring 24-hour waiting periods before abortions can be performed.
The order came after the board decided last month to approve penalties for physician Candace Sue Cooley that were less severe than what the Department of Health wanted.
The board, which is responsible for disciplining medical doctors, agreed with penalties recommended in September by Administrative Law Judge James H. Peterson III. The final order was posted Friday on the state Division of Administrative Hearings website.
The case stemmed from 193 abortions that Cooley, an obstetrician and gynecologist, performed at the Center of Orlando for Women clinic during a two-week period immediately after the waiting-period law took effect. The case went to the Division of Administrative Hearings as Cooley challenged a Department of Health complaint,