ASC to earn extra money. To be employed at the ASC, a person was required to (1) be on the Cook County Hospital payroll, (2) attend an orientation course offered by them and to pass a test, and (3) hold a temporary certificate with a permanent license application pending or must hold a permanent license. Although employment at the ASC was voluntary during the second year of the program, Cook County Hospital encouraged all residents, whether permanently or temporarily licensed, to work in the ASC. Although he received additional compensation, plaintiff considered his employment at the ASC a part of his training program. Like the other doctors working there, plaintiff had no choice as to the patients or the nature of the complaints he was required to treat.
Plaintiffby the hearing officer and recommended that plaintiff's application for a permanent license be denied.
Plaintiff filed a petition for rehearing on the ground that the hearing officers' conclusions were against the manifest weight of the evidence. Plaintiff alleged further that he was denied due process by the variance between the charges contained in the Department's amended complaint and the grounds relied upon to revoke his temporary certificate and to deny his application for a permanent license. Additionally, plaintiff asserted that he was denied equal protection of the law, and he cited five cases involving permanently licensed doctors facing similar charges who were accorded disciplinary measures far less stringent than those imposed upon him.
The Director of the Department denied plaintiff's request for rehearing, holding that plaintiff had failed to