A Cook County judge today ordered the head of the state health department to reconsider adding irritable bowel syndrome to the list of conditions eligible for treatment with medical marijuana.

Circuit Judge Anna Helen Demacopoulos ruled that Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav D. Shah violated procedural due process rights when he used his own review standard to deny the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board’s recommendation to add IBS to the list.

Beyond that, Demacopoulos ruled, the controlling statute and guidelines that govern Illinois’ medical marijuana program are silent regarding what kind of standard the director can use when issuing final decisions based on board recommendations.

“There is no IDPH rule, nor is there any language in the [Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program] Act, empowering the [d]irector to conduct his own investigation or add materials to the record that were not considered at the hearing,” Demacopoulos wrote in her nine-page memorandum and order.

While it appears Shah employed a standard to consider evidence from “adequate, well controlled clinical trials,” Demacopoulos ruled, it’s a standard the plaintiff did not have a chance to challenge before a decision was made.

“The [d]irector’s supplying of evidence post-hearing indicates demonstrable prejudice to the plaintiff and therefore serves as a basis for reversal,” she wrote.

In its limited-purpose remand, Demacopoulos ruled the advisory board will consider the “extrinsic evidence” Shah used in his decision, and the plaintiff — identified in court records as John Doe — will have an opportunity to challenge that evidence.

At the close of that hearing, she ruled, the board will issue another written recommendation for Shah’s consideration — based this time on all of the evidence presented.

Demacopoulos’ ruling is one of at least three medical marijuana decisions issued within the past month, as Associate Judge Neil H. Cohen ordered the department in late June to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the approved conditions list, and Associate Judge Rita M. Novak on Thursday ordered Shah to reconsider his denial of a petition regarding migraine headaches.

Robert A. Bauerschmidt, an associate at Goldberg Law Group LLC who represents Doe, said five more administrative review cases concerning different conditions remain pending before the court.

Doe filed a petition in March 2015 seeking to add IBS as a debilitating condition for which doctors could prescribe medical cannabis.

The advisory board — made up of 10 governor-appointed members that include two members of the public — heard testimony during a public hearing two days later. Doe testified during the hearing that he has endured IBS-related discomfort for many years and found that his pharmaceutical prescription drugs were ineffective in treating his condition.

The board unanimously voted to recommend IBS be added to the pilot program’s debilitating illness list.

But Shah denied the petition in October, citing a lack of “substantial evidence from adequate, well-controlled clinical trials” to support using cannabis to treat IBS. Doe’s was one of 11 total petitions Shah denied that day.

Bauerschmidt said Demacopoulos’ ruling was the product of “a thorough consideration of the [parties’] briefs.”

Assistant Attorney General Emma D. Steimel represented Shah and the department.

A spokesperson from the attorney general’s office deferred comment to the public health department, a spokeswoman for which said it is still reviewing the ruling.

The case is John Doe-One v. Illinois Department of Public Health et al., 15 CH 16763.