Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic medicine and Toxicology. Vol. 1 by R. A. Witthaus et al.

medicine in this State under a certificate must be examined by the State board of health, or the two members thereof in the congressional district where he resides, or if he resides out of the State by the two members in the congressional district nearest to his place of residence, who, together with a member of the local board of health who is a physician, if there be such a member of the local board of health of the county in which the examination is held, shall examine him and if upon a full examination they find him qualified to practise medicine in all its departments, they, or a majority of them, shall grant him a certificate to that effect, and thereafter he shall have the right to practise medicine in the State to the same extent as if he had the diploma and certificate above mentioned. The members of the State board of health in each congressional district must, by publication in some newspaper printed in the county in which their meeting is to be held, or if no such paper is printed therein, in some newspaper of general circulation in such district, give at least twenty-one days’ notice of the time and place of their meeting for the examination of applicants for permission to practise medicine, published at least once a week for three consecutive weeks before the day of such meeting. This section does not apply to a physician or surgeon called from another State to treat a particular case or to perform a particular surgical operation in the State, or who does not otherwise practise in the State (Code of W. Va., 1891, c. 150, s. 9). Every person holding a certificate must have it recorded in the office of the secretary of the State board of health, and the secretary is required to indorse on said certificate the fact of such recordation and deliver the same to the person named therein or his order. The State board of health may refuse certificates to individuals guilty of malpractice or dishonorable conduct, and may revoke certificates for like causes; such revocation being after due notice and trial by the said board, with right of appeal to the circuit court of the county in which such individual resides; but no such refusal or revocation shall be made by reason of his belonging to or practising in any particular school or system of medicine (_ib._, s. 10). The examination fee is not retained if a certificate is refused, but the applicant may again, at any time within a year after refusal, be examined without an additional fee, and if a certificate be again refused he may, as often as he sees fit, on payment of the fee, be examined until he obtains a certificate (_ib._, s. 11). Examinations may be wholly or partly in writing, and shall be of an elementary and practical character, embracing the general subjects of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica, pathology, pathological anatomy, surgery, and obstetrics, but sufficiently strict to test the qualifications of the candidate as a practitioner of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics. The chapter does not apply to females practising midwifery (_ib._, s. 12). DEFINITION, EXCEPTIONS.—Any person is regarded as practising medicine who professes publicly to be a physician, and to prescribe for the sick, or who appends to his name “M.D.” This act also applies to apothecaries and pharmacists who prescribe for the sick. It does not apply to commissioned officers of the United States army and navy and marine hospital service (_ib._, s. 13). ITINERANT PHYSICIAN OR VENDER.—Any itinerant physician or itinerant vender of any drug, nostrum, ointment, or appliance of any kind intended for the treatment of disease or injury, or who shall by writing or printing or in any other method publicly profess to cure or treat diseases, injuries, or deformities by any drug, nostrum, manipulation, or other expedient, shall before doing so pay to the sheriff of every county in which he desires to practise a special tax of $50 for each month or fraction of a month he shall so practise in such county, and take his receipt in duplicate therefor. He shall present said receipts to the clerk of the county court of such county, who shall file and preserve one of them in his office and indorse on the other, “A duplicate of this receipt has been filed in my office,” and sign the same. For such a person to practise or attempt to practise in any county without having paid such tax and filed such receipt and obtained such indorsement, or to practise or attempt to practise for a longer time than that for which he has paid a tax, is a misdemeanor punishable with a fine of from $100 to $500. Any person who shall travel from place to place and by writing, printing, or otherwise publicly profess to cure or treat diseases, injuries, or deformities is deemed an itinerant physician subject to the taxes, fines, and penalties of this section (_ib._, s. 14). PENALTY.—To practise or attempt to practise medicine, surgery, or obstetrics without complying with sec. 9 is a misdemeanor punishable, for every offence, with a fine of from $50 to $500 or imprisonment in a county jail from one month to twelve months, or both. To file or attempt to file as his own a diploma or certificate of another, or a false or forged affidavit of identity, or wilfully swear falsely to any question propounded to him on examination or to any affidavit required to be made and filed, is punishable with confinement in the penitentiary from one to three years or imprisonment in a county jail from six to twelve months, and a fine of from $100 to $500 (_ib._, s. 15). FEE.—To the State board of health, or its examining members, for examination, $10 (_ib._, s. 11). WISCONSIN. PROHIBITION.—No person practising physic or surgery, or both, shall have the right to collect in any action in any court fees or compensation for the performance of any medical or surgical service, or to testify in a professional capacity as a physician or surgeon, unless he shall have received a diploma from some incorporated medical society or college or shall be a member of the State or some county medical society legally organized in this State; provided that in all criminal actions the court may in its discretion and in the furtherance of justice receive the testimony of any physician or surgeon without requiring proof of the incorporation of the medical society or college from which he graduated (R. S., 1878, s. 1,436, as amended c. 131, 1887). No person practising physic or surgery, or both, prohibited by the above section from testifying in a professional capacity as a physician or surgeon, shall assume the title of doctor, physician, or surgeon by means of any abbreviation or by the use of any other word or words, letters of the alphabet of the English or any other language, or any device of whatsoever kind, printed, written, or painted, or exhibited in any advertisement, circular, handbill, letter, or other instrument, nor on any card, sign, door, or place whatsoever. PENALTY, EXCEPTIONS.—A violation of this act is a misdemeanor punishable with a fine of from $25 to $100, or imprisonment in a county jail from ten days to sixty days for each offence (s. 1, c. 256, 1881, as amended c. 40, 1882). On complaint in writing under oath before any magistrate or justice of the peace charging the commission of an offence against the provisions of this act in his county, it is the duty of the district attorney to prosecute the offender, and in all such prosecutions the burden of proof shall be upon the defendant to establish his right to use such title under the provisions of this act (_ib._, s. 2). Any person prohibited by sec. 1 from assuming the title of doctor, physician, or surgeon who shall practise or pretend to practise physic or surgery, or both, is not exempted from any, but is liable to all, of the legal penalties and liabilities of malpractice, and ignorance shall be no excuse for a failure to perform or for neglect or unskilfully performing or attempting to perform any of the duties required by law of practising physicians or surgeons. The act does not prevent students from practising under the direction of a qualified preceptor, nor women from practising midwifery, nor veterinarians from practising in their special department (_ib._, s. 3). WYOMING. QUALIFICATION.—No person can lawfully practise medicine, surgery, or obstetrics who has not received a medical education and diploma from some regularly chartered medical school having a _bona fide_ existence when the diploma was granted (R. S., 1887, s. 1,925). Every physician, surgeon, or obstetrician must file for record with the register of deeds of the county in which he is about to practise or where he practises, a copy of his diploma, exhibiting the original, or a certificate from the dean of the medical school of which he is a graduate certifying to his graduation (_ib._, s. 1,926). When filing a copy of his diploma or certificate of graduation, he must be identified as the person named in the paper about to be filed by the affidavit of two citizens of the county, or his affidavit taken before a notary public or commissioner of deeds for the State, which affidavit must be filed in the office of the register of deeds (_ib._, s. 1,927). PENALTY.—To practise without complying with this chapter is a misdemeanor punishable with a fine of from $50 to $500 or imprisonment in a county jail from thirty days to six months, or both, for each offence. To file or attempt to file as his own a diploma or certificate of another, or a forged affidavit of identification, is a felony subject to a fine and imprisonment in the penitentiary (_ib._, s. 1,928). It is the duty of the police, sheriff, or constable to arrest all persons practising medicine, surgery, or obstetrics without complying with these provisions (_ib._, s. 1,929). EXCEPTIONS.—This chapter does not apply to persons in emergency prescribing or giving advice in medicine, surgery, or obstetrics in a section of country where no physician, surgeon, or obstetrician resides, or where no physician, surgeon, or obstetrician resides within a convenient distance, nor to persons prescribing in their own families, nor to persons claiming to practise medicine, surgery, or obstetrics in any section of the State where no physician or surgeon having a diploma or a certificate resides (_ib._, s. 1,930). EVIDENCE.—On the trial of persons charged with the violation of this chapter it shall be sufficient for the prosecution to show that defendant has practised medicine, surgery, or obstetrics within the county where the indictment is found at any time since the passage of the act (1876), and the defendant shall not after proof be entitled to acquittal until he shows by the testimony of some competent witness upon oath that the defendant has received a medical education, and a genuine diploma from some regularly chartered medical school; provided that the defendant may show such facts by depositions taken in the same manner as depositions in civil cases (_ib._, s. 1,931). THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. MEDICAL ACTS.—The Act 21 and 22 Victoria, c. 90, and the amendments thereof and additions thereto, are generally spoken of as the Medical Acts. MEDICAL COUNCILS.—There is a general council of medical education and registration of the United Kingdom, with branch councils for England, Scotland, and Ireland (21 and 22 Vict., 1858, c. 90, s. 3, 6). Members of the general council are chosen as provided in 49 and 50 Vict., c. 48, s. 7; those representing the medical corporations must be qualified to register under this act (21 and 22 Vict., c. 90, s. 7). The general council appoints a registrar for England, and the branch councils for Scotland and Ireland appoint respectively a registrar for Scotland and Ireland (_ib._, s. 10, 11). REGISTRAR.—It is the duty of the registrars to keep their registers correct, and to erase the names of all registered persons who shall have died, and from time to time to make the necessary alterations in the addresses or qualifications of persons registered. It is lawful for the registrar to write a letter to any registered person, addressed to him according to his address on the register, to inquire whether he has ceased to practise or has changed his residence, and if no answer be returned within six months from the time of sending the letter, it is lawful to erase the name of such person from the register, but it may be restored by direction of the general council (_ib._, s. 14). QUALIFICATION.—Persons possessed of one or more of the qualifications described in Schedule A, on the payment of a fee not exceeding £5, are entitled to register on the production to the registrar of the branch council for England, Scotland, or Ireland the document conferring or evidencing the qualification in respect whereof he seeks to be registered, or upon transmitting by post to such registrar information of his name and address, and evidence of his qualifications and of the time or times at which they were obtained. The several colleges and bodies mentioned in Schedule A may transmit from time to time to the registrar, under their respective seals, lists of the persons who by grant of such colleges and bodies respectively, are for the time being entitled to register, stating the qualifications and residences of such persons, and it shall be lawful for the registrar on the payment of the said fee to enter in the register the persons mentioned in such lists with their qualifications and places of residences as therein stated without other application (_ib._, s. 15). The general council is required to make orders for regulating the registers from time to time (_ib._, s. 16). Persons actually practising medicine in England before August 1st, 1815, were entitled to register under the act (_ib._, s. 17). Any two or more of the colleges and bodies in the United Kingdom mentioned in Schedule A may, with the sanction and under the direction of the general council, unite or co-operate in conducting the examinations required for qualifications to be registered (_ib._, s. 19, 37 and 38 Vict., c. 34). The privy council may suspend the right of registration in respect of qualifications granted by any college or body (_ib._, s. 21). After such revocation, no person shall be entitled to register in respect to any qualification granted by such college before revocation (_ib._, s. 22). The privy council may issue an injunction directing any body entitled to grant qualifications to desist from imposing upon any candidate for examination an obligation to adopt or refrain from adopting the practice of any particular theory of medicine or surgery as a test or condition of admitting him to examination or granting him a certificate; and in the event of their not complying, may order that such body cease to have the power of conferring a right to be registered so long as they shall continue such practice (_ib._, s. 23). Where any person entitled to be registered applies to the registrar of any branch council for that purpose, such registrar is required forthwith to enter in a local register the name and place of residence, and the qualifications in respect of which the person is so entitled and the date of registration; and in case of the branch council for Scotland or Ireland, to send to the registrar of the general council a copy of the entry, and the registrar of the general council is required to cause the same to be entered in the general register; and such registrar is required to cause all entries made in the local register for England to be entered in the general register (_ib._, s. 25). No qualification is entered on the register, on the first registration or by way of addition to a regular name, unless the registrar be satisfied by proper evidence that the person claiming it is entitled to it. Any appeal from the decision of the registrar may be decided by the general council or by the council for England, Scotland, or Ireland, as the case may be. Any entry proved to the satisfaction of such general council or branch council to have been fraudulently or incorrectly made may be erased from the register by an order in writing of such general council or branch council (_ib._, s. 26). MEDICAL REGISTER.—The registrar of the general council is required to cause to be printed, published, and sold under the direction of such council, every year, a correct register of the names with the respective residences and medical titles, diplomas, and qualifications conferred by any corporation or university or by a doctorate of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the dates thereof, of all persons appearing on the general register as existing on January 1st in every year. Such register is called the _Medical Register_, and a copy of the _Medical Register_ for the time being is evidence that the persons therein specified are registered according to the act, and the absence of the name of any person from such copy is evidence, until the contrary be made to appear, that such person is not so registered; provided, that in the case of any person whose name does not appear in such copy, a certified copy under the hand of the registrar of the general council or a branch council of the entry of the name of such person on the general or local register shall be evidence that such person is so registered (_ib._, s. 27). If any college or body exercise any power it possess of striking off from its list the name of any one of its members, it shall signify his name to the general council and the said council may, if they see fit, direct the registrar to erase from the register the qualification derived from such college or body in respect of which such member was registered, and the registrar shall note the same therein, but the name of no person shall be erased from the register on the ground of his having adopted any theory of medicine or surgery (_ib._, s. 28). If any registered medical practitioner shall be convicted in England or Ireland of any felony or misdemeanor, or in Scotland of any crime or offence, or shall be after due inquiry judged by the general council to have been guilty of infamous conduct in any professional respect, the general council may, if they see fit, direct the registrar to erase the name of such medical practitioner from the register (_ib._, s. 29). Every person registered who may have obtained any higher degree or other qualification is entitled to have it inserted in the register in substitution for or in addition to his qualification previously registered, on the payment of such fee as the council may appoint (_ib._, s. 30). COMPENSATION.—No person is entitled to receive for any medical or surgical advice, or attendance, or for the performance of any operation or for any medicine which he shall have both prescribed and supplied, unless he prove upon the trial that he is registered under this act (_ib._, s. 32, as amended 23 and 24 Vict., c. 7, s. 3). DEFINITION.—The words “legally qualified medical practitioner” or “duly qualified medical practitioner,” or any words implying a person recognized by law as a medical practitioner or member of the medical profession in any act of Parliament, mean a person registered under this act (_ib._, s. 34, as amended 23 and 24 Vict., c. 7, s. 3). EXEMPTIONS.—If they so desire, registered persons are exempt from serving on juries, and in all corporation, parish, ward, hundred, and town offices, and in the militia (_ib._, s. 35). DISQUALIFICATIONS.—No unregistered person is permitted to hold any appointment as a physician, surgeon, or other medical officer in the military or naval service, or in emigrant or other vessels, or in any hospital, infirmary, dispensary, or lying-in hospital, not supported wholly by voluntary contributions, or in any lunatic asylum, jail, penitentiary, house of correction or of industry, parochial or union workhouse or poor-house, parish union, or other public established body or institution, or to any friendly or other society for affording mutual relief in sickness, infirmity, or old age, or as a medical officer of health (_ib._, s. 36, as amended 23 and 24 Vict., c. 7, s. 3). No certificate required by any act from any physician or surgeon licentiate in medicine and surgery, or other medical practitioner, is valid unless the signer be registered under this act (_ib._, s. 37, as amended 23 and 24 Vict., c. 7, s. 3). PENALTY.—Wilfully procuring or attempting to procure one’s self to be registered by making or producing or causing to be made or produced any false or fraudulent representation or declaration, or aiding or abetting therein, is a misdemeanor in England and Ireland, and in Scotland a crime or offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment. The imprisonment cannot exceed twelve months (_ib._, s. 39). Wilfully and falsely pretending to be or taking or using the name or title of physician, doctor of medicine, licentiate in medicine and surgery, bachelor of medicine, surgeon, general practitioner, or apothecary, or any name, title, addition, or description implying registration under this act, or recognition by law as a physician or surgeon or licentiate in medicine and surgery, or practitioner in medicine, or apothecary, is punishable on summary conviction by a penalty not exceeding £20 (_ib._, s. 40, 41). DECEASED PHYSICIANS.—Every registrar of deaths in the United Kingdom, on receiving notice of the death of any medical practitioner, is required to transmit to the registrar of the general council and the registrar of the branch council a certificate of such death with the time and place, and on the receipt of such certificate the medical registrar is required to erase the name of the deceased from the register (_ib._, s. 45). EXCEPTIONS.—The general council was by the act empowered by special order to dispense with such provisions of this act or such part of any regulations made by its authority as to them should seem fit, in favor of persons at the time of its passage practising medicine or surgery in any part of Her Majesty’s dominions other than Great Britain and Ireland by virtue of any of the qualifications in Schedule A, and in favor of persons practising medicine or surgery within the United Kingdom on foreign or colonial diplomas or degrees before the passage of this act, and in favor of any persons who had held appointments as surgeons or assistant surgeons in the army, navy, or militia, or in the service of the East India Company, or who were acting as surgeons in the public service, or in the service of any charitable institution, and in favor of medical students who commenced their professional studies before its passage (_ib._, s. 46). The _qualifications_ specified in _Schedule A_ are as follows: