---
title: "Permanently delete a specialty record"
method: DELETE
path: "/specialties/{id}"
tags: ["Specialty"]
---

# Permanently delete a specialty record

`DELETE /specialties/{id}`

Permanently removes the specialty record with the given ID from the tenant's catalog. This action is irreversible.

**When to use:** Use this endpoint to remove a specialty that is no longer needed. Deleting a specialty does not cascade to any other record: it does not remove or modify tenant, practitioner, group, or facility associations that reference it. If any such association still references the specialty, the deletion is rejected (409) rather than leaving those associations dangling.

**Preconditions:** Requires the `DELETE_SPECIALTY` permission. The `tenant-id` header must be supplied. `id` must refer to an existing specialty for the tenant; if it does not, 404 is returned.

**Result:** Returns 204 with no response body on success — a single, synchronous operation with no other side effects. Not idempotent — deleting an already-deleted specialty returns 404, not 204.

## Path parameters

- `id` string, required

## Headers

- `tenant-id` string, required

## Response `204`

The specialty was deleted. No response body.

## Other responses

- `401` — Unauthorized - Authentication required
- `403` — Forbidden - User does not have required permissions
- `404` — No specialty exists with the given ID for this tenant.
- `409` — The specialty is still referenced by an existing tenant specialty association and cannot be deleted. Remove or terminate the referencing association first.
- `500` — Internal Server Error - An unexpected error occurred

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/certifyos/apis/certify-api-layer.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/certifyos/apis/certify-api-layer/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/certifyos/certify-api-layer/revisions/563848e0ecc0/schema)