Does Florida law permit medical practices, hospitals and other employers in the medical profession to require their physicians to sign non-compete agreements? Once signed, can a court really order a doctor to stop providing medical services to his or her prior patients?  Can a physician really be held in contempt of court and be jailed for refusing to stop?

The answer to each of these questions is yes.

The stakes can be very high for both the practice employer and the physician employee.  Waiting until after non-compete agreement has been signed to understand the obligations of the agreement is too late.  If you are a physician employer, you need to know what you can and cannot require of your employees.  If you are a physician employee, you need to understand which obligations may be imposed upon you and which may not.

We will discuss non-competes (or “restrictive covenants,” to use the formal name) over the next couple of weeks.  We will address what they are, how they are enforced and some of the pitfalls and common mistakes we see.  And maybe we’ll dispel a few myths along the way.

We’ll get into the details in the next post but first, a word of warning.  The law governing non-compete agreements often varies quite a bit depending on which state you’re in. Our discussions will based on Florida law so don’t assume that what you read here will apply in Iowa or Idaho.