CHAPTER 139.
OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.
AN ACT to amend and add to an Act entitled "An Act Regulating the Practice of Medicine and Surgery in this State," being Chapter 40, Volume 20, Laws of Delaware.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That Section 13, Chapter 40, Volume 20, Laws of Delaware, be and the same hereby is stricken out and the following substituted therefor: "From and after the passage of this Act, any person not heretofore authorized to practice medicine and surgery in this State, and desiring to enter upon such practice, shall deliver to the Secretary of the Medical Council, upon the payment of a fee of Ten Dollars ($10.), a written application for examination together with satisfactory proof that the applicant is more than twenty-one years of age, is of good moral character, has obtained a diploma from some reputable literary or scientific college, or a certificate from the faculty of Delaware College, signed by the President and attested by the Secretary thereof, that he or she is qualified to enter the freshman class of the Latin Scientific Course of the said college; and has received a diploma conferring the degree of Doctor of Medicine, from some legally incorporated medical college, which, in the opinion of the Medical Council, was in good standing at the time of the issuing of the said diploma. Applicants who have received their degree in medicine after the passage of this Act, must have pursued the study of medicine for at least four years, including four regular courses of lectures of not less than seven months each, in different years, prior to the granting of said degree, in some legally incorporated medical college or colleges, approved by the Medical Council. Such proof shall be made upon affidavit. Upon the making of said payment and proof, the Medical Council shall issue to said applicant an order for examination before such one of the State Boards of Medical Examiners as the applicant for certificate may select. In case of failure at any such examination, the candidate, after the expiration of six months and within two years, shall have the privilege of a second examination by the same Board to which application was first made, without the payment of an additional fee, but if after six months and before two years from such examination, said application shall be withdrawn, the said Ten Dollars ($10.) shall upon demand be returned. Provided that applicants for license who graduated prior to July 1st, A. D. 1901, and have been in continuous and reputable practice for at least five years since graduation, may be admitted to the examinations of one of said Boards, upon certified and satisfactory evidence of good moral character, of three courses of medical lectures in different calendar years, and of a competent academic education according to the requirements of that time; and provided further, that applicants for license who graduates prior to July 1st, A.D. 1896, and have been in continuous and reputable practice for at least ten years, may be admitted to the examination of one of said Boards upon certified and satisfactory evidence of moral character, of two courses of medical lectures, in different calendar years, and of a competent academic education according to the requirements of that time."
Section 2. That Section 14, Chapter 40. Volume 20, Laws of Delaware, be and the same hereby is amended by adding thereto after the word provided, the following, to wit. "But a temporary license, of not less than two weeks nor more than four months, may be granted to a resident and legally qualified physician of another State to take charge of the practice of a resident and legally qualified physician of this State, during the latter's temporary illness or absence from this State, upon the written request of a physician residing in this State, and the payment to the Secretary of the Medical Council of a fee of two dollars ($2) for the use of said Council, and when such temporary license is so issued, the physician receiving such license shall have the right to practice medicine in the State of Delaware, for the time specified in said temporary license."
Section 3. That Chapter 40, Volume 20, Laws of Delaware, be and the same hereby is amended by adding thereto, which shall be designated as Section 20 of said Chapter 40, Volume 20, Laws of Delaware, the following, to wit: "For the purposes of this act and the act to which this is an amendment, the words, practice of medicine, or surgery, shall mean to open an office for such purpose, or to announce to the public, or to any individual, in any way, a desire or willingness or readiness to treat the sick or afflicted in any county in the State of Delaware, or to investigate or diagnosticate, or to offer to investigate or diagnosticate any physical or mental ailment, or disease, of any person, or to give surgical assistance, to, or to suggest, recommend, prescribe or direct for the use of any person, any drug, medicine, appliance or other agency, whether material or not material, for the cure, relief or palliation of any ailment or disease of the mind or body, or for the cure or relief of any wound, fracture, or bodily injury, or deformity, after having received or with the intent of receiving therefor, either directly or indirectly, any money, gift, or any other form of compensation. It shall also be regarded as practicing medicine within the meaning of this act if any one shall use in connection with his or her name, the words or letters Dr., Doctor, Professor, M. D., M. B. or Healer, or any other title, word, letter or other designation which may imply or designate him or her as a practitioner of medicine, or surgery, in any of its branches; provided that nothing in this act nor the act to which this is an amendment, shall be construed to apply to the administration of domestic or family remedies in cases of emergency, or to dentists or dental surgeons in the practice of dentistry, or to surgeons of the United States Army or Navy in the discharge of their official duties, or to prevent the mechanical application of glasses provided, that nothing contained in this act shall prevent opticians from preparing eyes for testing or testing eyes and fitting glasses to correct vision, or to prevent druggists" practicing pharmacy according to the existing laws, or to prevent the treatment of corns or bunions or the business of manicuring or the practice of massage. The requirements of Section one of this amendment as to general or medical education shall not apply to students now matriculated in medical colleges, but such students shall conform, as to general and medical education, to the requirements of the Statute to which this Act is an amendment."
Section 4. That Chapter 40, Volume 20, Laws of Delaware, be and the same hereby is amended by adding thereto, which shall be designated as Section 21 of said Chapter 40, Volume 20, Laws of Delaware, the following, to wit: "Any practitioner of the system, method or science of treating diseases of the human body commonly known a Osteopathy, who is a graduate of any legally chartered and regularly conducted school of Osteopathy which in the opinion of the Medical Council shall be in good standing, who holds a diploma regularly issued from such school, and who has been in personal attendance as a student in such school for at least four terms of not less than five months each before graduation, and who is now located and practicing in this State, is hereby authorized to so practice, without conforming to, and notwithstanding, any provisions of this act, or of the act to which this Act is an amendment, upon such practitioners of Osteopathy paying to the State the State License tax prescribed by law for physicians."
"That all other persons proposing to practice Osteopathy in this State after the passage of this act shall be subject to the provisions of this act and of the act to which this act is an amendment, provided that such future applicants to practice Osteopathy in this State shall be examined by the Medical Council and some reputable practitioner of Osteopathy in this State, or, if there then shall be no reputable practitioner of Osteopathy then residing in this State, by the Medical Council and some practitioner of Osteopathy from some other State, to be designated by the Medical Council, and provided further that such future applicants to so practice shall be examined only upon such questions as shall be selected by the Medical Council and such selected associated practitioner of Osteopathy in Anatomy, physiology, hygiene, chemistry, obstetrics, pathology, physical diagnosis, histology, gynecology, surgery, urinalysis, and principals of Osteopathy. Any person who is the holder of a diploma regularly issued by any legally chartered and regularly conducted school of Osteopathy, who has been in personal attendance as a student in such school for at least three years for terms of not less than seven months in each year before graduation, and who shall conform to the provisions relative to general education, shall be eligible to such examination by said Medical Council, notwithstanding any of the provisions of this act. Upon successfully passing said examination, the applicant to practice Osteopathy shall be entitled to receive and shall receive from said Medical Council an appropriate certificate entitling him to practice Osteopathy in this State. The Clerk of the Peace of any of the Counties of this State shall, upon the payment of the amount of the State license tax prescribed by law for physicians, issue a license signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Secretary of State with the seal of his office, certifying that such person is authorized to practice Osteopathy in this State, conformably to the laws thereof, to any person who shall present to him such certificate of the Medical Council or to any practitioner of Osteopathy now practicing in this State conformably to the provisions of this act."
Approved March 25, A. D. 1907.