The Medical Board of California has stripped Carlsbad fertility specialist Dr. Eric Scott Sills of his medical license while he serves a 15-to-life prison term for murdering his wife. The board’s move came after a state appeals court left his criminal conviction intact, closing off any remaining claim he might make to keep practicing medicine while his criminal appeals play out.
According to Medical Board records and local reporting, the agency issued the revocation after the California Court of Appeal filed an unpublished opinion on Dec. 19, as reported by KGTV/10News. The appellate decision itself is part of the public court file. The opinion, filed Dec. 19, 2025, is posted online at Leagle.
Conviction and sentence
Sills was convicted in December 2023 of second-degree murder after prosecutors said he strangled his wife and then staged her death to look like a fall at the couple’s San Clemente home, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was sentenced to 15 years to life on March 15, 2024, the Associated Press reported. The case attracted national coverage because the couple operated a local fertility clinic and left behind young children.
Why the board waited
The Medical Board told KGTV/10News it held off on final disciplinary action while Sills pursued his appeals. Under California law, the Division of Medical Quality can suspend or revoke a physician’s certificate once a conviction is final or while a licensee is incarcerated; those rules are laid out in Business and Professions Code section 2236.1, as published on Justia. The California State Board of Pharmacy’s prescriber registry also lists an automatic suspension order for Sills effective March 15, 2024, in the state’s public records, according to the California State Board of Pharmacy.
Clinic ties in Carlsbad
Sills had been listed as medical director of the Center for Advanced Genetics, a fertility clinic in Carlsbad, and practiced in La Jolla and Carlsbad before his arrest, according to business listings and local reporting. The clinic’s public listing places it at 3144 El Camino Real in Carlsbad, per the Center for Advanced Genetics. Local coverage, including reporting by the Los Angeles Times, has documented his role at fertility practices in the region.
What comes next
With his conviction now affirmed on appeal, Sills remains incarcerated and, under state rules that bar consideration of petitions from licensees who are still serving a sentence, cannot seek reinstatement of his license while he is in prison. The Medical Board of California publishes procedures and petition forms for penalty relief and explains the factors it weighs when reviewing requests for reinstatement. The state’s rehabilitation criteria for reinstatement petitions are detailed in California Code of Regulations section 1360.2, as available on Justia.
