Wulff v. State Board of Registration for Healing Arts

380 F. Supp. 1137
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedMay 31, 1974
Docket73 C 731(A)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 380 F. Supp. 1137 (Wulff v. State Board of Registration for Healing Arts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wulff v. State Board of Registration for Healing Arts, 380 F. Supp. 1137 (E.D. Mo. 1974).

Opinion

380 F.Supp. 1137 (1974)

George J. L. WULFF, Jr., M. D., and Michael Freiman, M. D., Plaintiffs,
v.
The STATE BOARD OF REGISTRATION FOR the HEALING ARTS and Thomas E. Singleton, Chief of Bureau of Medical Services, Division of Welfare State Department of Public Health and Welfare, Defendants.

No. 73 C 731(A).

United States District Court, E. D. Missouri, E. D.

May 31, 1974.

*1138 Frank Susman, Susman, Willer & Rimmel, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiffs.

John D. Danforth, Atty. Gen., and Kermit W. Almstedt, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for defendant Thomas E. Singleton.

Albert J. Stephan, Jr., St. Louis, Mo., for defendant Missouri State Bd. of Registration for the Healing Arts.

Before WEBSTER, Circuit Judge and MEREDITH and HARPER, District Judges.

MEMORANDUM

This matter is before the Court on motion of defendant, State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts (hereinafter referred to as State Board), to dismiss Counts I and III of the plaintiffs' complaint, and on motion of defendant, Thomas E. Singleton, to dismiss Count II of plaintiffs' complaint. Counts I and III name the State Board as defendant and Count II names Thomas E. Singleton as defendant.

Plaintiffs, George J. L. Wulff, Jr. and Michael Freiman, are physicians licensed by the State of Missouri, engaging in the practice of obstetrics and gynecology. Defendant, State Board, is an administrative board created by Missouri state statutes charged with the licensing of physicians. The State Board has the *1139 power to revoke or suspend a physician's license for unprofessional and dishonoraable conduct under RSMo 334.100. Defendant, Thomas E. Singleton, is the Chief of the Bureau of Medical Services, Division of Welfare, State Department of Public Health and Welfare, for the State of Missouri. In his capacity as Chief of the Bureau of Medical Services, Singleton oversees the applications, approvals, denials and payments of claims for payment and reimbursement of medical expenses arising from or related to the procedure of abortion for women eligible for Missouri State Medicaid assistance.

The plaintiffs' complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief alleges jurisdiction in this Court under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 2201, 2202, 2281, 2284 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and prays for the convening of a three-judge court under 28 U.S.C. § 2281, and for declaratory and injunctive relief in all three counts of their complaint.

Plaintiffs allege that the statutory wording "but excluding abortion" contained in RSMo 431.061[1] (Count I), "shall not include abortions unless such abortions are medically indicated" contained in RSMo 208.152 (Count II) and "pregnancy" contained in RSMo 431.061 (Count III) are unconstitutional. Plaintiffs allege that the above statutory wording in each count is vague and uncertain, deprives the plaintiffs and their patients of the right to privacy, deprives plaintiffs of their right to practice medicine according to the highest standards of medical practice, deprives plaintiffs' patients of the fundamental right of a woman to determine for herself whether to bear children, infringes upon plaintiffs' right to render and their patients' right to receive safe and adequate medical advice and treatment, deprives plaintiffs and their patients of the equal protection of the law and due process of law, and constitutes state interference with the abortion decision, all of which is in violation of the United States Constitution.

The contentions relied upon by the defendant State Board to sustain its motion to dismiss Counts I and III may be summarized as follows:

(1) Plaintiffs failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
(2) The State Board is not a proper party defendant.
(3) Plaintiffs failed to allege the existence of a "controversy".
(4) Plaintiffs failed to allege enforcement by the State Board of the challenged statute and therefore the court should abstain from interpreting the state statute.
(5) There is relief available to plaintiffs in state courts and agencies.

The grounds relied upon by defendant Singleton to sustain his motion to dismiss Count II may likewise be summarized as follows:

(1) The declaratory relief prayed for does not constitute a "case or controversy ripe" for determination by this Court.
(2) Plaintiffs lack standing to litigate the constitutional questions presented.
(3) Injunctive relief cannot be granted in that the plaintiffs are not susceptible to irreparable harm by virtue of enforcement of the challenged statute.
(4) Plaintiffs have not exhausted administrative remedies.
*1140 (5) Plaintiffs could not personally suffer harm for which relief can be granted under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

COUNT I

RSMo 431.061 (see Footnote 1), which plaintiffs seek to attack in Counts I and III, was enacted in 1971 by the Missouri General Assembly as Section 1 of House Bill 73 and must be read and construed in connection with RSMo 431.062[2] and 431.063,[3] which were Sections 2 and 3 of House Bill 73. Mitchem v. Perry, 390 S.W.2d 600, 603 (Mo.App.1965). When so read and construed it is apparent that RSMo 431.061 only relates to minors' ability to contractually bind themselves to pay for medical treatment for pregnancy, venereal disease and drug abuse. It is true that under RSMo 431.061(1) the treatment for pregnancy for which an unmarried minor may contractually bind herself excludes abortions. The effect of this exclusion is simply to leave the law unchanged as it relates to contracts for abortion. That is to say that a minor may not be held contractually liable for the cost of receiving an abortion unless she ratifies the debt contracted after she reaches majority. RSMo 431.060. This does not constitute a prohibition against giving abortions to minors.

Neither the statute under attack, RSMo 431.061, nor the two statutes enacted as part of the same bill (RSMo 431.062 and 431.063) provide any sanctions for the performance of an abortion on an unmarried minor without parental consent. In fact, Missouri does not in light of Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973); Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 93 S.Ct. 739, 35 L.Ed.2d 201 (1973), and Rodgers v. Danforth, Civ. No. 18360-2 (W.D.Mo.),[4] affirmed 1973, 414 U.S. 1035, 94 S.Ct.

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Related

Singleton v. Wulff
428 U.S. 106 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Wulff v. Signleton
508 F.2d 1211 (Eighth Circuit, 1975)
Wulff v. Singleton
508 F.2d 1211 (Eighth Circuit, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
380 F. Supp. 1137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wulff-v-state-board-of-registration-for-healing-arts-moed-1974.