STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

IMACULATE ESPEJO ASUNCION, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 83-920

)

DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL ) REGULATION, BOARD OF MEDICAL ) EXAMINERS, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

A hearing was held in the above-captioned matter, after due notice, at Tallahassee, Florida, on May 17, 1983, before Thomas C. Oldham, Hearing Officer.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Immaculate Espejo Asuncion, pro se For Respondent: John Griffin, Esquire

Department of Legal Affairs

The Capitol

Tallahassee, Florida 32301 ISSUE PRESENTED

Whether Petitioner's application for licensure as a physician by endorsement should be granted, pursuant to Chapter 458, Florida Statutes.

Petitioner appeared at the hearing unaccompanied by legal counsel and was therefore informed as to the procedures and her rights in the administrative proceeding. She acknowledged that she understood such rights and elected to represent herself.

Petitioner testified in her own behalf, and Respondent presented the testimony of Dorothy J. Faircloth, Executive Director of the Board of Medical Examiners. The parties submitted Joint Exhibit No. 1 consisting of the Board's application file in the matter.

A Proposed Recommended Order submitted by Respondent has been substantially adopted herein. Those portions not adopted are deemed to be either unnecessary, irrelevant, or unsupported in law or fact.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Petitioner, Immaculate Espejo Asuncion, of St. Paul, Minnesota, filed an application with Respondent, Board of Medical Examiners, on September 21,

   1982, for licensure by endorsement to practice medicine. (Testimony of Petitioner, Joint Exhibit No. 1)

   
   

2. On March 7, 1983, Respondent issued a Notice of Intent to Deny Endorsement Licensure on the grounds that Petitioner had not obtained a 75 percent FLEX weighted average on the licensure examination of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc., as required by Rule 21M- 29.01(2), Florida Administrative Code, and was not certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners as having completed its examination within the ten years immediately preceding the filing of the application for licensure by endorsement, as required by Section 458.313(1)(d), Florida Statutes. Petitioner thereafter requested a hearing on the proposed denial of her application. (Testimony of Faircloth, Joint Exhibit No. 1)

   
   

3. Petitioner was licensed to practice medicine in the state of Minnesota in 1978. She obtained such licensure by satisfactorily passing the clinical science and clinical competence portions of the FLEX examination, and by successfully completing a basic sciences examination administered by the Minnesota State Board of Examiners. (Testimony of Petitioner, Joint Exhibit No. 1)

   
   

4. Petitioner is a graduate of a foreign medical school and is therefore not eligible to take the examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners. The alternate method of obtaining licensure by endorsement is by certification through licensure examination of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc. (FLEX). This examination has three parts and is taken over a period of three days. The three parts of the examination are basic science, clinical science, and clinical competence. The scores on the three parts are averaged under a formula to produce a weighted average score. Respondent's Rule 21M-29.01(2), Florida Administrative Code, requires that an applicant have a FLEX weighted average of 75 percent from one complete sitting on the examination. Petitioner took only the clinical science and clinical competence portions of the examination and therefore did not obtain a certified FLEX weighted average score. The Minnesota basic sciences examination taken by Petitioner was not the same basic sciences examination administered as part of the FLEX examination. (Testimony of Faircloth, Joint Exhibit No. 1)

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

5. Section 458.313, Florida Statutes sets forth the requirements for licensure by endorsement as a physician. The parties stipulated at the hearing that the only issue under consideration in this proceeding is whether Petitioner meets the requirements of subsection 458.313(1)(d), which reads as follows:

   
   

   458.313 Licensure by endorsement. --

   1. The department shall issue a license by endorsement to any applicant who, upon applying to the department and remitting a fee not to exceed $250 set by the board, demonstrates to the board that he has met the qualifications for licensure in s.

      458.311 and:

      (d) Has been certified by licensure examination of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc. (FLEX) or is certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners as having

      completed its examination; provided

      that such examination required shall have been so certified within the 10 years immediately preceding the filing of his application for licensure under this section.

      
      

      Respondent's Rule 21M-29.01(2), Florida Administrative Code, which implements the above statute, provides as follows:

      
      

      21M-29.01 Definitions.

   2. The phrase "has been certified

   by licensure examination of the Federa- tion of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc." (FLEX) or is certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners as having completed its examination as used in Section 458.313(1)(d), F.S., shall mean the following:

   A FLEX weighted average of seventy-

   five percent (75.0 percent) from one complete sitting on the FLEX, or an average

   score of seventy-five percent (75.0 percent) on the National Board.

   
   

6. The evidence shows that Petitioner is ineligible to take the National Board of Medical Examiners' examination, and did not obtain a FLEX weighted average on the FLEX examination because she has not taken the basic science part of the examination. Accordingly, pursuant to the above-referenced rule of Respondent, she is not eligible for licensure by endorsement.

RECOMMENDATION

That Respondent enter a Final Order denying Petitioner's application for licensure by endorsement.

DONE and ENTERED this 16th day of June, 1983, in Tallahassee, Florida.

THOMAS C. OLDHAM

Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 16th day of June, 1983.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Immaculate Espejo-Asuncion, M.D. Dorothy J. Faircloth

80 Battle Creek Place Executive Director

St. Paul, Minnesota 55119 Board of Medical Examiners

130 North Monroe Street

John Griffin, Esquire Tallahassee, Florida 32301 Department of Legal Affairs

The Capitol

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Fred Roche, Secretary

Department of Professional Regulation

130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Docket for Case No: 83-000920

Orders for Case No: 83-000920