State v. Stoddard

245 N.W. 273, 215 Iowa 534
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 22, 1932
DocketNo. 41518.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 245 N.W. 273 (State v. Stoddard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Stoddard, 245 N.W. 273, 215 Iowa 534 (iowa 1932).

Opinion

Kindig, J.

— The defendant-appellant, Dr. Genevieve G. Stod *535 dard, is an osteopath duly licensed to practice that profession in the state of Iowa. She, in April, 1931, was engaged at Waukon in the practice of osteopathy, and it is charged by the State, in its petition for an injunction, that she there, in addition to the practice of that profession, engaged in the practice of medicine. Such practice of medicine by the appellant, an osteopath, the state declares, was illegal because an osteopath, as such, has no right to practice medicine. It is contended by the state that the appellant practiced medicine at the time and place in question by prescribing to her patients internal curative medicines.

As above indicated, the state, on July 6, 1931, commenced the proceedings here involved to enjoin the appellant from thus engaging in the practice of medicine, as distinguished from the practice of osteopathy. A motion to dismiss the petition was filed by the appellant. This motion was overruled by the district court. Thereupon the appellant answered. In her answer the appellant denied that she was illegally practicing medicine. Her practice, the appellant answered, has at all times been within the rights and privileges granted to her as an osteopath, under the laws of Iowa.

After a trial on the merits, an injunction was issued by the district court as prayed by the state, and the appellant appeals.

I. According to the record, appellant in April, 1931, at Waukon, treated T. H. Ahearn for “stomach trouble and blood poisoning.” That treatment consisted of: First, osteopathic manipulations; and, second, the prescription for an internal medicine consisting of a compound containing sodium bicarbonate, bismuth sub-carbonate, and magnesium oxide. This prescription made by the appellant for her patient Mr. Ahearn was in writing. Following the receipt thereof, Ahearn presented it at a drug store in Waukon where it was filled, and after he obtained the medicine from the druggist he took the compound internally, according to appellant’s directions. Furthermore the appellant furnished her patient Ahearn with “a little box of tablets,” and impliedly suggested that he use the tablets.

Mr. Lyman also called upon appellant at her office in Waukon in April, 1931, and complained of stomach trouble. Accordingly the appellant gave a written prescription to this patient describing the same drugs as were prescribed for the other patient Mr. Ahearn. Lyman, as did Ahearn, went to a drug store and had the prescription filled. The appellant charged Lyman for the prescription. While *536 she may not have charged Ahearn specifically for the prescription, she did, however, charge him for the entire treatment which she administered for his “stomach trouble and blood poison.”

A druggist, J. C. Opfer, in Waukon, testified that his drug store filled a prescription written by the ' appellant. Likewise, A. L. Grimm, another druggist in Waukon, testified that he had filled prescriptions written by the appellant. When testifying, J. C. Opfer, the' druggist, also declared that the drugs contained in the prescription are found in the “National Formula.” He also said that bismuth subcarbonate is found in the U. S. Pharmacopeia. Bismuth subcarbonate, the witness suggested, gives relief from distress of gas or hyperacidity. A. L. Grimm, the druggist above named, testified that baking soda purchased at the grocery stores, contains some alum and ámmonia; while the chemically pure sodium bicarbonate ■used to fill prescriptions does not contain alum and. ammonia. So too, this druggist declared that the three ingredients in the prescriptions given by appellant to her patients contained certain drugs included in the U. S. Pharmacopeia and “National Formula.”

During the time in question, the appellant advertised herself at Waukon as an osteopathic physician. In effect, it was admitted by the appellañt that she prescribed the drugs in question. Also she concedes that the drugs were prescribed as internal medicine. She makes two arguments at this juncture, however, to avoid the state’s charge.- They are: First, that the medicine administered was not curative; and, second, that she did not give the medicine to her patients for the purpose of effecting a cure, but rather to relieve pain or. distress in the stomach. Section 2554 of the 1931 Code provides:

“A license to practice ‘osteopathy’ or ‘osteopathy and surgery’ shall not authorize the licensee to prescribe or give internal curative medicines and a license to practice ‘osteopathy’ shall not authorize the licensee to engage in major operative surgery.”

Therefore, it is contended by the appellant that the above statute authorizes her as an osteopath to prescribe or give internal medicines if they are not'curative. - From that premise, the appellant concludes that she should-not be enjoined under.the state’s petition because she did not prescribe or give the internal medicine above named to effect a cure but rather to relieve a distress in her patient’s stomach.

The statute furnishes no definition for internal curative medi *537 cines. It is argued by the state that formerly an osteopath could not prescribe or give medicines of any kind, and consequently the present law was changed in order to enable him to use external, as distinguished from internal, medicines. On the contrary, it is contended by the appellant that the statute, as now worded, authorizes an osteopath to prescribe and give internal medicines if such medicines are not curative. See State v. Cornelius, 200 Iowa, 309. This result must follow, the appellant declares, because the statute aforesaid is penal and therefore must be strictly construed. Effect must he given in the statute to the word “curative,” appellant urges, and therefore under strict construction she says the statute ■ means that an osteopath can administer any medicine that is not known to the medical profession as a “specific.” If that is not true, the appellant maintains that at least the osteopathic profession can administer internal me'dicines as a relief from distress, as distinguished from a cure for an ailment. While thus administering internal medicines for the purpose of relief, the appellant suggests that she may use an ordinary household remedy for a simple condition of minor distress. Whether the rule requiring a strict construction of the penal statutes applies in the case at bar where an injunction is under consideration, we do not decide because this court in principle, when considering a criminal case where the strict construction rule applies, has disposed of the statutory construction involved adversely to the appellant’s claim.

Our court, in State v. Gibson, 199 Iowa 177, declared that the words “internal curative medicine” in the statute are to be given not a technical meaning, but that they should be construed “according to their usual and ordinary meaning.” Consequently the question of fact involved in the case ai bar is not whether “the medicine prescribed was the best, or one most likely to effect a cure, or whether it would, in fact, cure the disease or affection for which it was given.” State v. Gibson (199 Iowa 177). supra. The question to be determined in this case is. as that in the Gibson, case was, “whether the defendant prescribed and administered internal curative medicine.” State v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. . Baker
48 S.E.2d 61 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1948)
State v. McPheeters
249 N.W. 849 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1933)
State v. Kindy Optical Co.
248 N.W. 332 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
245 N.W. 273, 215 Iowa 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stoddard-iowa-1932.