State v. Webster

102 N.E.2d 736, 91 Ohio App. 541, 61 Ohio Law. Abs. 57
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 21, 1951
Docket22071
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 102 N.E.2d 736 (State v. Webster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Webster, 102 N.E.2d 736, 91 Ohio App. 541, 61 Ohio Law. Abs. 57 (Ohio Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

OPINION

By THOMPSON, J:

This case comes into this court on an appeal on law by the defendant-appellant from the judgment of the Municipal Court of Cleveland, sentencing him to pay a fine of $500.00 and costs, pursuant to a jury verdict finding him guilty of practice of medicine without a license.

Warrant was issued against the defendant in this case, based upon an affidavit filed by an inspector for the State Medical Board charging the following violation of law:

“* * * that on or about the 6th day of April, A. D. 1950, at the City of Cleveland in said County of Cuyahoga, one *58 Franklin D. Webster, alias Franklyn D. Webster, did unlawfully practice medicine and surgery at 5005 Euclid Avenue, before the said Franklin D. Webster, alias Franklyn D. Webster, had obtained a certificate to practice medicine and surgery or any of its branches from the State Medical Board of Ohio, in the manner required by law, except a certificate to practice chiropractic and mechanotherapy which does not permit the use of drugs, in this, to-wit: the said Frank D. Webster, alias Franklyn D. Webster, did then and there prescribe, advise, recommend and dispense, for a fee, to-wit, the sum of $25.00, certain drugs, the nature of which are pills, powders and fluids and labelled ás follows: No. 52 Estrogen, No. 5 Vegetable tablets, No. 40 Vitamin B-l-Ox bile extract, No. 42 OrthoPhosphoric acid, No. B81, Vegetable tablets, No. 41 Glycerine solution, No. 91 and sulphur fumes for the bodily infirmities and diseases of Mrs. Carl Kaufman, to-wit, arthritis, excessive systemic content of aluminum, arsenic and strychnine, improper functioning of kidney and further deponent says not; contrary to the form of the statute in such cases made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Ohio.”

Defendant pleaded not guilty and subsequently, after demurrer filed and overruled, and after motion for bill of particulars was denied, trial to the jury was had.

The evidence at the trial showed that defendant has possessed a license to practice chiropractic and mechano-therapy since 1916 and that his license is on file with the Probate Court of Cuyahoga County but no license to practice medicine was ever granted to him. The testimony further shows that one Mrs. Kaufman having an arthritic condition lasting for eighteen years and being referred to defendant, consulted him at his office on March 28, 1950, where x-rays were taken, a diagnostic machine employed and instrument readings taken. The patient returned two days later to receive the defendant’s analysis of her condition. She came back a third time with a representative of the Better Business Bureau whom she introduced as her husband. This representative asked the defendant to go through his previous examination and demonstrate the diagnostic machine. At this third consultation, the patient received from defendant State’s Exhibits 4 through 10, consisting of seven bottles of pills and written instructions as to when and how many she was to take. The patient some days later received by mail a bill for $25.00 from the defendant, which she failed to pay.

A chemist in the food and drug division of the City of Cleveland identified the contents of the bottles as follows:

*59 Glycerine solution of iodine and vegetable extractions (State’s Ex. 4) mixture of thiamine hydrochloride or Vitamin B-l, or ox-bile (State’s Ex. 5); Estrogen preparation (State’s Ex. 6); phosphoric acid, corn starch, acacia and possibly phytin (State’s Ex. 7); non-specific volatile oils, tannin, gallic and malic acids, resins and mucilages (State’s Ex. 8); complex pulverized mixture of vegetable substances, specifically identified as starch granules of arrow root or variety and a mucilagious gum identical to that found in psyllium seed, (State’s Ex. 9); complex pulverized mixture of vegetable substances (State’s Ex. 10).

The defendant took the stand and testified to Mrs. Kaufman’s visits to his office and admitted delivery of the bottles to Mrs. Kaufman but he insisted the contents were “food supplements” given for the purpose of building up nutritional deficiencies and to ready her for subsequent body treatments.

State’s Exhibit 6, one of the bottles marked “45 tablets Estrogen Seroyal Brands” has a label declaring “Directions: To be dispensed only by or on the prescription of a physician.” After the finding of guilty by the jury and entry of judgment against defendant, the defendant-appellant filed thirteen assignments of error in this court, but his brief concerns itself primarily with three principal claims:

1. That the affidavit was fatally defective and failed to state an offense;

2. That the State failed to prove the charge;

3. That §12694 GC is inapplicable to one holding a license for the practice of limited branches of medicine or surgery.

With reference to the first claim we call attention to the statutes involved in this case. These include §§12694, 1274-1 through 7, GC, and §1286 GC. The pertinent provisions of §12694 GC are as follows:

“Whoever practices medicine or surgery, or any of its branches, before obtaining a certificate from the state medical board, in the manner required by law .... shall, for the first offense be fined not less than $25.00 nor more than $500.00

By §1274-1 GC, the State Medical Board shall

“examine and register persons desiring to practice any limited branch or branches of medicine and surgery and shall establish rules and regulations governing such limited practice. Such limited branches of medicine or surgery shall include .... chiropractic .... mechano-therapy . . . .”

Sec. 1274-3 GC describes the method of conducting examinations for particular limited branches of medicine and surgery and then declares:

*60 “If the applicant passes such examination and has paid the fee of twenty-five dollars as required by law, the state medical board shall issue its certificate to that effect. Such certificate shall authorize the holder thereof to practice such limited branch or branches of medicine or surgery as may be specified therein, but shall not permit him to practice any other branch or branches of medicine or surgery, nor shall permit him to treat infections, contagious or venereal diseases, nor to prescribe or administer drugs, or to perform major surgery, except that the state medical board may adopt rules and regulations permitting in the practice of chiropody the use of such drugs as are necessary to such practice.”

Sec. 1286 GC is important as defining what constitutes the practice of medicine and surgery. This section declares:

“A person may be regarded as practicing medicine, surgery, or midwifery, within the meaning of this chapter, who uses the words or letters, ‘Dr.,’ ‘Doctor,’ ‘Professor,’ ‘M. D.,’ ‘M.

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Related

City of Toledo v. Kohlhofer
122 N.E.2d 20 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1954)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
102 N.E.2d 736, 91 Ohio App. 541, 61 Ohio Law. Abs. 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-webster-ohioctapp-1951.