Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 261 - STATE BOARD OF CHIROPRACTIC EXAMINERS

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE CREATION AND APPOINTMENT OF A STATE BOARD OF CHIROPRACTIC EXAMINERS, DEFINING ITS POWERS AND DUTIES; REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF CHIROPRACTIC; PROVIDING FOR THE LICENSING OF CHIROPRACTORS AND PRESCRIBING PENALTIES FOR ANY VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. There is hereby created a body to be known as the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which Board shall consist of three members of State resident chiropractors of good character, who have practiced chiropractic in the State for three years, and who shall be graduates of a recognized, reputable school or college of chiropractic. No two members of said Board shall be graduates of the same school or college of chiropractic.

Section 2. The Governor of the State shall within thirty days after this Act becomes effective, appoint said three members of said Board from five names submitted to him by the Delaware Chiropractic Association. One of said members shall be appointed for the term of one year, another for two years and the third one for three years.

Annually thereafter the Governor shall appoint one member from three names submitted to him by the Delaware Chiropractic Association for the full term of three years. Vacancies for any cause shall be filled by the Governor for the unexpired term. All of said appointees shall possess the qualifications set out in Section one of this Act.

Section 3. The said Board of Chiropractic Examiners shall convene within thirty days after their appointment and elect a President, a Vice-President and a Secretary-treasurer from their membership who shall hold office during their respective terms as Examiners, and as each respective term expires a new officer shall be elected for the term of the newly appointed Examiner. A majority shall constitute a quorum for business. The said Board shall hold regular meetings at such places as the Board may by resolution decide, during the first week in January and July, respectively, of each year; and shall publish such dates and places of meetings in some newspaper of general circulation in the State, at least fifteen days prior to said -meetings, which said meetings shall be for the examination of applicants who wish to practice chiropractic.

Before any applicant shall apply for the examinations below set forth, he or she shall furnish proof to said Board that he or she is a graduate of a high school or other school having equal educational requirements, and also a graduate of a chiropractic school or college teaching a four-year course.

Section 4. The said Board shall give to all applicants who wish to practice chiropractic two examinations. The first examination shall be to test whether the person examined has such knowledge of the elementary principles of the Basic Sciences as might be acquired after the completion of study of the following subject for the number of hours specified, to-wit:

And upon the applicant passing with a grade of 75% in each subject, the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners shall issue a Certificate to that effect. Upon the completion of this examination, the Board of Chiropractic Examiners shall then conduct a second examination on the subjects usually taught by reputable schools of Chiropractic, designed to ascertain whether the applicant is qualified to practice chiropractic, to-wit: upon the subjects of anatomy, physiology, symptomatology, chiropractic orthopedy, principles of chiropractic and adjusting, nerve tracing, chemistry, hygiene, bacteriology, chiropractic analysis and drugless therapy as taught by chiropractic schools and colleges, and upon the applicant passing with a grade of 75% in each subject, and also if upon said examination the said Board shall consider the applicant to be a person of good, moral character, and to have passed a satisfactory examination, as above stated, the said Board shall issue to said person a Certificate stating him or her to be qualified to practice chiropractic.

Before said Certificate is issued, the said applicant shall pay to said Board, the fee or sum of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) provided said examination and said fee shall not apply to any resident chiropractor who has been practicing chiropractic in this State for five years continuously prior to the passage of this Act, and provided, also, said requirement shall not apply to any bona fide resident chiropractor who is a graduate of a high school or other school having equal educational requirements, and also a graduate of a chiropractic school or college, and who was practicing in this State prior to January 1, 1937.

After an applicant shall have received his said Certificates, he or she shall apply yearly thereafter for a renewal Certificate for which he or she shall pay to said Board a fee or charge of Five Dollars ($5.00) before said Board shall be required to issue said Certificate showing him or her to be qualified to practice Chiropractic; and provided also, before said renewal Certificate shall be issued, the applicant shall have attended one of the two-day educational programs as conducted by the Delaware Chiropractic Association, or furnish satisfactory evidence of non-attendance. This renewal fee shall apply to all practitioners. The said sums of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) and Five Dollars ($5.00) shall be as compensation for the members of said Board for performing and discharging the duties of their respective office, and defraying all expenses incident thereto.

If, in the discharge of said duties, any member of said Board shall have to leave his or .her place in which he or she practices his or her profession, he or she shall receive the sum of three cents for every mile travelled, and also the sum of Ten Dollars ($10.00) for each day he or she is serving on said Board, which said expense shall likewise be paid out of the above monies received by said Board.

Section 5. Reciprocity:--Persons licensed to practice chiropractic under the laws of any other State having equivalent requirements of this Act, shall be issued a Certificate showing him or her to be qualified to practice chiropractic in this State without examination, upon payment of the fee of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00), as herein provided.

Section 6. Upon obtaining said above-mentioned Certificates any person may practice chiropractic in this State upon his or her first obtaining and paying therefor, the proper license or licenses required to be paid by the laws of this State.

Section 7. Said Board shall have authority to administer oaths, take affidavits, summon witnesses and take testimony as to matters pertaining to their duties. They shall adopt a seal, which shall be affixed to all Certificates issued by them and shall from time to time adopt such rules and regulations as they deem proper and necessary for the performance of their duties, which shall be without prejudice, partiality or discrimination as to the different schools-of Chiropractic. The Secretary of said Board shall keep a record of the proceedings of the Board which shall at all times be open to public inspection.

Section 8. Definition of Chiropractic:--Chiropractic is the science of locating and removing any interference with the transmission of nerve energy. A license granted under the provisions of this Act shall not entitle a licensee to use drugs, surgery, osteopathy, obstetrics, dentistry, optometry nor chiropody.

Section 9. Chiropractic practitioners shall observe and be subject to all State-and Municipal regulations relating to the control of contagious and infectious diseases, and any and all matters pertaining to public health, reporting to the proper health officer the same as other practitioners.

Section 10. Any person or persons practicing Chiropractic in this State without first obtaining a proper license or licenses required by the Laws of this State, or violating any of the other provisions of this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof in the Court of General Sessions of the State of Delaware shall forfeit and pay a fine of not less than Fifty Dollars 050.00) nor more than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00), or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the Court.

Section 11. If any Section of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional, it shall not render void the rest of the Act.

Section 12. All laws and parts of laws inconsistent with this Ad are hereby repealed.

Approved May 18, 1937.