P.R. Laws tit. 20, § 86
The members of the Board of Dental Examiners shall be authorized to administer oaths in matters concerning the discharge of their duties.
The Board shall have the power to summon witnesses and compel them to appear before it, as well as to receive the evidence submitted to it in any matter under its jurisdiction. It may, likewise, require that copies of books, medical and dental records, documents or extracts thereof be sent to it in all cases in which it must examine the originals, or is empowered to require the presentation thereof.
Any summons issued by the Board under penalty of contempt shall bear the seal thereof and shall be signed by the Chairman of the Board, and may be served by any adult in any [place] of the Commonwealth.
The Board shall contract the services of a lawyer in those cases that he deems it is necessary, and the fees shall be paid from the funds set apart in the Department of Health’s budget for the operation of the Board of Dental Examiners, and if these are not sufficient, from any other existing funds in the Department of Health which are not otherwise appropriated, or may request the Secretary of Justice to provide legal counsel.
The Board shall [set], by regulation, the sums to be paid for the appearance of witnesses and for each mile travelled by them. Disbursements made for this item shall be defrayed chargeable to the Department of Health’s budget for the operation of the Examining Boards.
If any individual who has been summoned to appear before the Board or before any of its members should not appear, refuses to give oath or testify, or to answer any pertinent question, or to present any document or pertinent evidence when the Board directs him to, it may invoke the assistance of any part of the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico to compel his appearance, the testimony of witnesses and the presentation of documents, as the case may be.
The court, for just cause shown, shall issue and order any person to appear before the Board or any of its members and present the required documents, if so ordered, and to testify in regard to the matter under consideration, and failure to obey such order shall constitute contempt of court and may be punished accordingly.
History —Aug. 29, 1925, No. 75, p. 550, § 6; Oct. 9, 1986, No. 11, p. 817, § 6.