Opinion ID: 2425036
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Veterinary Medical Examination

Text: Dr. Linton was graduated from the University of Missouri's veterinary medical school in 1995. To be licensed as a veterinarian requires, in addition to the doctorate degree in veterinary medicine, successful completion of three examinations: (1) The National Board Examination developed under the National Board Examination Committee for Veterinary Medicine, which is used in most states; (2) The Clinical Competency Test, and (3) The State Jurisprudence Examination (or Missouri State Board Examination.) Dr. Linton has passed all three examinations, but the issue here is whether the Board can deny her a license under the Board's regulation, purportedly based on section 340.240.6, because her passage of the National Board Examination was preceded by three unsuccessful attempts. On her fourth taking, which was in Illinoisa state that has no limit on the number of attemptsDr. Linton scored 483, well above the Missouri passing point. [2] Missouri uses the results of the National Board Examination and sets the passing score at 425; section 340.240.4 authorizes the Board to establish the passing score. The examination consists of 400 multiple choice questions selected from a bank of some 15,000 questions (presumably each question counts for more than one point, as the passing grade in Missouri is higher than the number of questions). Questions on each administration of the national examination differ from those of previous examinations, though the range of subjects tested remains the same. Thus, as the Administrative Hearing Commission found in this case, the National Board Examination is an excellent measure of a candidate's knowledge, and its efficacy is not less for a candidate who has taken it more than three times. (Emphasis added.) In other words, one does not learn the examination by multiple takings. Dr. Linton's expert witness was Dr. Robert Bruce Miller, of the University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine, who helped develop the National Board Examination. The Administrative Hearing Commission's conclusion is supported by Dr. Miller's testimony that the National Board Examination shows that a candidate is qualified whether she succeeds on the first or fifth attempt. Prior to 1992, the Missouri Veterinary Medicine Board by regulation limited a candidate to three attempts at the National Board Examination. The regulation provided that after three failed attempts the applicant take additional education and then seek permission from the Board to take the examination again. In 1992 in Perryman v. Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, AHC No. 92-0000 29HA, the Administrative Hearing Commission ruled that a similar regulation was unenforceable without statutory authority. Between this decision and August 1992, when section 340.240 was amended, the Board of Veterinary Medicine did not enforce the regulation. In addition, the Board's present and former executive directors testified that there have been no safeguards or independent verification of the number of times the applicants stated they took the examination on their application. The 1992 General Assembly enacted an amendment to the licensing statute, in section 340.240.6, which reads: No person may take the examination more than three times. The Board then promulgated a regulation that is arguably more restrictive than the statute: Effective August 28, 1992, no person may take any examination more than three (3) times either in or out of Missouri to qualify for licensure in Missouri. 4 CSR 270-2.041 (Emphasis added). When Dr. Linton achieved the score of 483 on the National Board Examination, administered in Illinois, she applied for a Missouri license. She was rejected by the Board on the basis that she previously had taken the examination three times. Denial of her license was appealed to the Administrative Hearing Commission, which, lacking authority to rule on the constitutional issue, upheld the Board's denial of the license. On appeal to the circuit court for Cole County, Dr. Linton prevailed on her equal protection claim. It should be noted that there might be a statutory basis on which to resolve this case. Specifically, one could observe that the regulation adopted by the Board restricting licensure to those who have taken the examination three or fewer times whether in or out of Missouri is inconsistent with the statute. The statute, as stated, could be limited by its terms only to examinations taken in Missouri, and Dr. Linton's application would be addressed to the Board's discretion under section 340.240.4 to transfer a score from another state. With this interpretation, the Board's action could then be reviewed on the basis of whether its action in denying her a license is arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable in violation of section 536.140.2(6). Dr Linton's point relied on recites the familiar incantation of the judicial review statute that the Board's action is arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable and was thus an abuse of the Board's discretion, but the judicial review statute, section 536.140.2(6) is not cited. Where a constitutional challenge can be obviated by deciding a case on statutory grounds, we should decide the case without reaching the constitutional question. See, St. Louis Christian Home v. Missouri Commission on Human Rights, 634 S.W.2d 508, 513 (Mo.App.1982), and Simpson v. Kilcher, 749 S.W.2d 386, 390 (Mo.1988). [3] However, since Dr. Linton does not raise this issue explicitly, I will accept the parties' apparent notion that the regulation is consistent with the statute and deal with the equal protection claims.