Abrahamson v. Illinois Dept. of Professional Regulation
| Decision Date | 19 November 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 71786,71786 |
| Citation | 606 N.E.2d 1111,153 Ill.2d 76,180 Ill.Dec. 34 |
| Parties | , 180 Ill.Dec. 34 Bruce M. ABRAHAMSON, Appellee, v. The ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL REGULATION et al., Appellants. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Roland W. Burris, Atty. Gen., Springfield , for appellants.
Edward L. Foote, Winston & Strawn, Chicago, for appellee.
Bruce Abrahamson applied to appellant, the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (Department), for a license to practice medicine in this State. The Department denied the application.
On administrative review, the circuit court of Cook County reversed the Department's decision and ordered the Department to issue a medical license to Abrahamson. The appellate court affirmed. (210 Ill.App.3d 354, 154 Ill.Dec. 870, 568 N.E.2d 1319.) This court allowed the Department's petition for leave to appeal (134 Ill.2d R. 315(a)), and we now reverse.
The record contains the following pertinent facts. In January 1981, Abrahamson passed the examination administered by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). In 1985, he passed the FLEX examination, the passage of which is a licensing requirement in Illinois. See Ill.Rev.Stat.1987, ch. 111, par. 4400-9(E).
On June 6, 1986, Abrahamson applied to the Department for a license to practice medicine in this State. After receiving the application, the Department questioned two of Abrahamson's answers.
On November 24, 1986, representatives of the Department held an informal conference with Abrahamson and his attorney. Part B, question 6, of the application required Abrahamson to list the occupational schools he had attended. He listed one school--the Autonomous University of Juarez, Mexico (Juarez). However, at the informal conference, Abrahamson revealed that he had been enrolled at the Indiana University School of Medicine (Indiana University) while also enrolled at Juarez. Part D, question 2, of the application required Abrahamson to acknowledge whether he had ever been denied a license, permit, or privilege of taking an examination by any licensing authority. Abrahamson answered "No." However, at the informal conference, Abrahamson revealed that: (1) he had applied for medical licenses in Indiana, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania, and (2) none of those States granted him a license.
The next day, Abrahamson submitted an "addendum" to his original application. In this submission, Abrahamson proffered reasons for his failure to disclose the required information in the above-mentioned areas. Regarding his dual enrollment at Juarez and Indiana University, Abrahamson believed that the question referred only to schools from which he had received a degree. He explained that he did not list Indiana University because he did not receive a degree from that school. In the addendum, Abrahamson also included a chronological summary of the dual enrollment. He recounted the dates of his enrollment at Indiana University, the courses that he took there, and his performance in those courses.
In the addendum, Abrahamson also explained his failure to disclose his applications for medical licenses in three other States. He recounted the circumstances that surrounded each license application. He essentially concluded that each application had not been formally considered and denied. Thus, Abrahamson did not list them.
On January 14, 1987, Abrahamson appeared before the Illinois Medical Licensing Board (Board). He essentially restated the information contained in the addendum. At the close of the hearing, the Board indicated that it would need more time to render a decision on the application.
On April 29, 1987, the Department notified Abrahamson of its intent to deny his application. The Department intended to deny the application for the following reasons:
"1. You have made false statements to the Department in connection with your application.
2. You have failed to, in fact, meet the educational requirements of the Medical Practice Act.
3. You caused to be printed a false and fraudulent transcript of credit hours from Indiana University Medical School capable of defrauding the public and this Department."
On August 5, 1987, the Department and Abrahamson deposed Ruben Dominguez. Dominguez was a printer at PIP Press in Las Crucas, New Mexico. PIP Press printed business forms, envelopes, letterheads and the like. Dominguez identified a transcript of courses taken and grades received at Indiana University; the transcript bore Abrahamson's name. The transcript was printed at his shop. Dominguez could not remember which employee actually printed the document or exactly when it was printed. However, he was certain that the transcript was printed at his shop for Abrahamson. Dominguez did not know whether Abrahamson actually received the document.
Further, on the day the transcript was printed, Dominguez discussed the document with Ruth Anderson. Anderson was Dominguez's neighbor and an administrative assistant with the Dominican Medical Society. On the following day, Dominguez gave copies of the false transcript to Anderson. In February 1987, Dominguez was questioned about the transcript by Robert Hewson, a Department investigator. Hewson showed Dominguez a copy of the transcript, which Dominguez identified as having been printed in his shop. Hewson also showed Dominguez photographs of six men. Dominguez identified Abrahamson's photograph as that of the man who commissioned the transcript.
On September 9, 1987, the Board held another hearing on Abrahamson's application for a medical license. Hewson testified regarding the false Indiana University transcripts. Anderson mailed her copies of the false transcript to Indiana University. In turn, the university mailed the transcripts to the Department with a cover letter stating that they were not official. A discussion with the director of Juarez led Hewson to Anderson, who led Hewson to Dominguez. Additionally, over Abrahamson's hearsay objection, Hewson related statements by the director of Juarez that could be construed to mean that Abrahamson used the false transcript to obtain academic credit at Juarez.
Abrahamson denied that he had commissioned the printing of the Indiana University transcript. However, he admitted that the date on the transcript corresponded to the date he entered Indiana University. Abrahamson submitted an affidavit from the director of Juarez, in which the director testified that Abrahamson never used the false transcript to obtain academic credit at Juarez. Further, it was undisputed that Abrahamson never tendered the false transcript to the Department in order to obtain an Illinois medical license.
Abrahamson was again questioned on his dual enrollment at Juarez and Indiana University. At the January 14 hearing, Abrahamson testified that from November 1979 through February 1980, he attended "very few classes" and "may have taken one or two tests" at Indiana University. At the September 9 hearing, Abrahamson was asked whether he attended a particular class on 12 specific dates during this period. Abrahamson could not remember whether he had been present.
Hewson, during his testimony, proffered an attendance report for the class in question. The report showed that Abrahamson, during this period, was present at 12 out of 13 scheduled laboratory sessions and was present on all test dates, except the final test. Hewson received the report from a university professor. Hewson did not know how the professor took attendance and did not see any original records from which the report had been prepared. The report was admitted into evidence over Abrahamson's hearsay objection.
Abrahamson was questioned also regarding statements he had made in various other documents. Abrahamson's application to take the ECFMG test stated that he had received a Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) from Indiana University. However, Abrahamson admitted that he did not receive a degree from Indiana University and knew this when he completed the ECFMG application.
In addition, Abrahamson's Indiana medical license application stated that Abrahamson had received a B.A. from Indiana University. Also, his Pennsylvania medical license application stated that he had received a Bachelor of Science degree (B.S.) from Indiana University. Abrahamson explained that he contacted the registrar's office at Indiana University and was informed that he had accrued "enough hours as an undergraduate to be eligible for a degree."
On February 10, 1988, the Board voted unanimously to recommend that the Department director deny Abrahamson's application. The Board based its recommendation on Abrahamson's lack of "good moral and ethical judgment."
On March 9, 1988, the Board met again to establish its findings of fact. In its written recommendation, the Board found that Abrahamson was "not credible and unworthy of belief." However, the Board found that Hewson, Dominguez, an Indiana University assistant dean, and an Indiana University professor of medicine each was "credible and worthy of belief."
In its recommended findings 12 through 16, the Board concluded that the evidence clearly and convincingly showed: (1) Abrahamson "caused a false and fraudulent transcript of courses, purportedly completed at Indiana University School of Medicine, to be printed"; (2) Abrahamson's explanation on the issue of dual enrollment at Juarez and Indiana University was "inconceivable"; (3) Abrahamson, in pursuit of an Illinois medical license, "made numerous misstatements of material facts regarding his academic credentials, schools and periods of actual attendance, degrees conferred, applications for licensure in other jurisdictions and...
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