Williams v. Ohio State Medical Board

605 N.E.2d 1311, 78 Ohio App. 3d 743, 1992 Ohio App. LEXIS 1266
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 19, 1992
DocketNo. 91AP-1182.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 605 N.E.2d 1311 (Williams v. Ohio State Medical Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Ohio State Medical Board, 605 N.E.2d 1311, 78 Ohio App. 3d 743, 1992 Ohio App. LEXIS 1266 (Ohio Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

*745 Peggy Bryant, Judge.

Appellant, Robert A. Williams, M.D., appeals from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas which affirmed the order of appellee, Ohio State Medical Board (“board”), revoking appellant’s license to practice medicine and surgery.

On November 2, 1989, a Jackson County jury found appellant guilty of nine counts in violation of R.C. 2925.23(B)(2), which provides that:

“(B) No person shall intentionally make, utter, or sell, or knowingly possess a false or forged:

t( * * *

“(2) Uncompleted preprinted prescription blank used for writing a prescription^]”

On November 8, 1989, a judge of the Jackson County Common Pleas Court accepted the jury verdict; appellant ultimately was sentenced. Appellant appealed his conviction.

On November 17, 1989, the board issued a citation letter to appellant, notifying him that the board intended to determine whether sanctions were appropriate as a result of his being found guilty of nine felony counts of illegal processing of drug documents in violation of R.C. 2925.23(B)(2). The board alleged that such conduct violated R.C. 4731.22(B)(2), (3), (6), (9) and (20).

Following a hearing, the hearing examiner recommended that appellant’s license to practice medicine and surgery be revoked; the board adopted the hearing examiner’s recommendation and revoked appellant’s license.

Appellant appealed to the common pleas court, which affirmed the board’s order. Appellant appeals therefrom, assigning the following errors:

“I. The criminal convictions which formed the basis for the State Medical Board’s decision revoking appellant’s medical license were obtained in violation of appellant’s constitutional rights as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, Sections 10 and 16 of the Ohio Constitution and thus, the use of said convictions to form a basis of revocation of appellant’s medical license deprived him of due process of law as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 16, of the Ohio Constitution.

“II. Ohio Revised Code Section 119.10, which requires the Ohio Attorney General to represent and advise an administrative agency, and which further requires the Ohio Attorney General to prosecute cases in front of the same *746 administrative agency, is unconstitutional on its face, in that it violates appellant’s right to due process of law as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 16 of the Ohio Constitution.

“III. Ohio Revised Code Section 119.10, which requires the Ohio Attorney General to represent and advise an administrative agency, and which requires the Ohio Attorney General to prosecute cases in front of the same administrative agency, is, in its application to appellant, violative of his right to due process of law as guaranteed by the federal and state Constitutions.

“IV. Ohio Revised Code Section 4731.23, which requires the Ohio State Medical Board to choose the hearing examiner who presides over administrative hearings before the board, is unconstitutional on its face and in its application to appellant, as it is violative of his right to due process of law as guaranteed by the federal and state Constitutions.

“V. Ohio Revised Code Section 4731.22, which does not provide a reinstatement procedure for a doctor whose license to practice medicine has been revoked, is unconstitutional on its face and in its application to appellant, as it is violative of appellant’s right to due process of law as guaranteed by the federal and state Constitutions.

“VI. Appellant was denied due process of law as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 16, of the Ohio Constitution, when Dr. Rauch, a member of the Ohio State Medical Board, testified against appellant at his criminal trial and was present at the proceeding wherein appellant’s license to practice medicine was revoked.

“VII. The findings of the State Medical Board were not supported by reliable, probative, and substantial evidence; and therefore, the decision to revoke appellant’s license to practice medicine violated the due process provisions of the federal and state Constitutions.”

In his first assignment of error, appellant contends that, because the criminal convictions which formed the basis for the board’s order were obtained in violation of appellant’s constitutional rights, the use of said convictions as a basis for revoking appellant’s license also violates appellant’s constitutional rights.

This court addressed a similar argument in In re Appeal of Plotnick (Sept. 27, 1984), Franklin App. No. 84AP-225, unreported, 1984 WL 5921. Therein, this court noted that, despite the appeal of a conviction, a conviction exists and “remains valid and enforceable during the pendency of an appeal” for purposes of R.C. 4731.22.

*747 While sentence had not been imposed on appellant at the time of the board’s hearing, the jury verdict had been accepted; and, at the time of the board’s order, appellant had been sentenced on the nine felony convictions in Jackson County. Hence, under Plotnick, until the criminal convictions are reversed on appeal, they constitute a valid basis for the board’s finding violations of R.C. 4731.22. Appellant’s first assignment of error is overruled.

Appellant’s second assignment of error challenges the facial constitutionality of R.C. 119.10, which requires the Ohio Attorney General both to represent and advise an administrative agency, and to prosecute cases before the same agency. This court recently addressed the precise issue in DeBlanco v. Ohio State Med. Bd. (1992), 78 Ohio App.3d 194, 604 N.E.2d 212, and found no facial unconstitutionality in R.C. 119.10. For the reasons set forth therein, appellant’s second assignment of error is overruled.

On the same basis, appellant’s third assignment of error challenges the constitutionality of R.C. 119.10 as applied to him. While the assistant attorney general participated in the prosecution before the hearing examiner, nothing suggests that he participated in the board’s deliberations on the matter or even advised the board concerning the hearing examiner’s recommendation or appellant’s objections thereto. Inasmuch as the record does not reveal that the assistant attorney general assigned to the case exerted any undue influence regarding board action, we overrule appellant’s third assignment of error.

Appellant’s fourth assignment of error challenges the constitutionality of R.C. 4731.23, which requires the State Medical Board to choose the hearing examiner for administrative hearings before the board; appellant contends that R.C. 4731.23 is unconstitutional on its face and in its application to appellant. Again, this court addressed and rejected the same argument in DeBlanco. For the reasons set forth in DeBlanco,

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Richter v. State Med. Bd. of Ohio
831 N.E.2d 502 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2005)
Roy v. Ohio State Med. Bd.
655 N.E.2d 771 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1995)

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605 N.E.2d 1311, 78 Ohio App. 3d 743, 1992 Ohio App. LEXIS 1266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-ohio-state-medical-board-ohioctapp-1992.