Davis v. State Board of Medical Registration & Examination

5 N.E.2d 125, 103 Ind. App. 88, 1936 Ind. App. LEXIS 174
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 17, 1936
DocketNo. 15,282.
StatusPublished

This text of 5 N.E.2d 125 (Davis v. State Board of Medical Registration & Examination) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. State Board of Medical Registration & Examination, 5 N.E.2d 125, 103 Ind. App. 88, 1936 Ind. App. LEXIS 174 (Ind. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinion

Kime, J.

On the 15th day of November, 1932, the appellant here applied to the State Board of Medical Registration and Examination, for a certificate authorizing the clerk of the Marion Circuit Court to issue him a license to practice naturopathy, upon the form prescribed by the board and submitted therewith the affidavits, as prescribed by statute, and a diploma issued by the College of Drugless Physicians, which diploma purported to confer upon the appellant the so-called degree of Doctor of Naturopathy. The board at a hearing upon this application refused to issue a.certificate to the clerk and from this order of refusal the appellant appealed to the Marion Superior Court as the statute provided and there the application, affidavits and diploma were introduced in evidence and the appellant testified in his own behalf.

The court found for the appellee board and rendered judgment accordingly. Following a motion for new trial this appeal was perfected. Errors assigned were the overruling of a motion for new trial and that the court erred in sustaining appellee’s motion to find for the board at the conclusion of the evidence. The grounds of the motion for new trial were that the decision of the court was not sustained by sufficient evidence and was contrary to law. All raise the same question and will be discussed together.

It appears from the evidence that the appellant was born November 16, 1911, and attended public school to and including the third grade and parochial school after that until he had completed the eighth grade, after *90 which he spent one term in a parochial high school. On September 9, 1925, when he was thirteen years and nine months of age he entered this College of Drugless Physicians, at which time he was still a student in the grade schools during the day and attended this school at night, which school is referred to in the evidence as the Briggs school because a man by the name of Briggs was the operator thereof. On November 16, 1926, on the day he was fifteen years of age, he received the so-called degree of Doctor of Naturopathy after having attended this school only one year two months and seven days.

The evidence discloses that the method of treatment used by doctors of Naturopathy is by spinal adjustments.

The evidence further discloses that this school was closed “by the courts” and that Briggs, the operator' thereof, was convicted of operating a school fraudulently and that this was because he was “operating a diploma mill.”

The evidence also discloses that the board refused the license to appellant because of his immature agé at the time he was in attendance at this college and “on account of non-compliance of the standards of instruction required for professional schools to entitle a graduate therefrom to receive a license” and stated specifically that the medical practice acts “have not been complied with and met by the said applicant. . . for a certificate on diploma and residence and practice in Indiana prior to and on Jan. 1,1927.”

The act of 1897, ch. 169, p. 255, being §63-1311 Burns 1933, and §10712-Baldwin’s 1934, which was the original act regulating the practice of medicine, surgery and obstetrics, provided among other - things that the definition of the practice of medicine was as follows: “Sec.. 8. To open an office for such purpose or to an *91 nounce to the public in any way a readiness to practice medicine in any county of the State, or to prescribe for, or to give surgical assistance to those suffering from disease, injury or deformity, shall be to engage in the practice of medicine within the meaning of this act.” This act further provided that the board should “establish ■ and cause to be recorded” in a record “a schedule of the minimum requirements and rules for the recognition of medical colleges.” By the act of 1899, ch. 145, p. 247, being §63-1306 Burns 1933, and §10708 Baldwin’s 1934, wherein -certain sections of the act of 1897 were amended, the identical language with regard to rer quirements and rules for the recognition of medical colleges was re-enacted and a further provision was enacted which provided that (§2) “When an application for a certificate is made, and a diploma submitted, as herein provided, it shall be the. duty of the State Board of Medical Registration and Examination to determine, upon the evidence presented, whether such diploma rightfully belongs to and was issued, to the person making application for a certificate, and whether the medical college that issued the diploma maintains a standard of medical education conforming to that fixed by the State Board of Medical Registration and Examination, and whether the application otherwise complies with the rules of the Board. If these facts are shown by competent evidence, it shall be the duty of the State Board of Medical Registration and Examination to issue a certificate, signed by its President and Secretary, and under its official seal, stating that the person applying for such certificate and possessing such diploma is entitled to a license to practice medicine, surgery and obstetrics in the State of Indiana.

The-act of 1901, ch. 211, p. 475, being §63-1306 Burns 1933, and §10708 Baldwin’s 1934, which was an amendment of the prior acts, contained the law relat *92 ing to the schedule of minimum requirements and amended §8 of the act of 1897, supra, by more specifically defining the practice of medicine, as follows: “Section 8. To open an office for such purpose or to announce to the public in any way, a readiness to practice medicine in any county of the State or to prescribe for, or to give surgical assistance to or to heal, cure or relieve, or to attempt to heal, cure or relieve those suffering from injury or deformity, or disease of mind or body, or to advertise, or to announce to the public in any manner a readiness or ability to heal, cure or relieve those who may be suffering from injury or deformity, or disease of mind or body, shall be to engage in the practice of medicine within the meaning of this Act: Provided, that nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to or limit in any manner the manufacture, advertisement or sale of proprietary medicines. It shall also be regarded as practicing medicine within the meaning of this act, if anyone shall use in connection with his or her name the words or letters ‘Pr.,’ ‘Doctor,’ ‘Professor,’ ‘M. D.’ or ‘Healer,’ or any other title, word, letter or designation intending to imply or designate him or her as a practitioner of medicine or surgery in any of its branches: Provided, That this act shall not be construed to apply to nonitinerant opticians who are at this time engaged in, or who may hereafter engage in the practice of optometry in this State, nor to professional or other nurses.”

The act of 1927, ch. 248, p. 725, being §63-1311 Burns 1933, and §10712 Baldwin’s 1934, amends the three prior acts in certain particulars and again more specifically defines the practice of medicine by re-enacting the provisions of section 8 last above quoted and adding the following: “Provided, however, That this law shall be construed as applying only to those persons who pretend, claim, assert, or advertise that they diagnose, or *93

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Related

Pitzer v. Indiana State Board of Medical Registration & Examination
177 N.E. 876 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1931)

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Bluebook (online)
5 N.E.2d 125, 103 Ind. App. 88, 1936 Ind. App. LEXIS 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-state-board-of-medical-registration-examination-indctapp-1936.