Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 40

OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

AN ACT regulating the Practice of Medicine and Surgery in this State.

WHEREAS, The safety of the public may be endangered by incompetent physicians and surgeons, and due regard for public health and the preservation of human life demands that none but competent and properly-qualified physicians and surgeons shall be allowed to practice their profession; therefore,

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

SECTION 1. That there shall be established a Medical Council of Delaware, consisting of the Chief Justice of the State and of the Presidents of the two State Boards of Medical Examiners provided for in this act.

SECTION 2. The said Council shall be known by the name and style of the "Medical Council of Delaware", and may make and adopt all necessary rules, regulations and by-laws for their own government, not inconsistent with the laws of this State or of the United States, and shall have power to locate and maintain an office within this State for the transaction of business. Two members of said Council

shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

SECTION 3. The said Council shall organize within ten days from the date of the organization of the two Boards of Medical Examiners, and shall elect from its own number a president and a secretary, who shall also act as treasurer, both of whom shall hold their offices for one year, or until their successors are chosen.

SECTION 4. The members of said Council shall receive, in addition to their necessary expenses, five dollars per day each for each meeting of the Council, but said per diem shall not exceed in any one year more than fifteen dollars, the same to be paid out of the fees hereinafter provided for.

SECTION 5. The said Medical Council shall hold two stated meetings in each year, and may hold special meetings, at such times as it may deem proper. It shall issue certificates for license to practice medicine and surgery to such applicants as have presented such diplomas as hereinafter required and successfully passed the examination hereinafter provided, and the said Medical Council shall have no powers, duties or functions except as provided for in this act.

SECTION 6. That from and after the passage of this act there shall be, and continue to be, two separate Boards of Medical Examiners for the State of Delaware, one representing "The President and Fellows of the Medical Society of Delaware", and the other "The Homeopathic Medical Society of Delaware State and Peninsula".

Each board shall consist of five members, and each of said number shall serve for a term of two years from the first day of March next after appointment, with the exception of those first appointed, who shall serve as follows, namely: two of each board for one year, and three of each board for two years, from the first day of March, A. D. 1895.

The Governor shall appoint the members of said Board of Examiners, respectively, from the lists of members submitted by said medical societies residing in this State, which lists shall, within ten days from the passage of this act, and on or before the first day of every January thereafter, be transmitted to the Governor under the seal and signed by the secretary of the society so nominating.

From these lists of nominees, respectively, the Governor shall, within ten days after the receipt thereof, appoint two separate Boards of Medical Examiners, each board to be composed exclusively of members of the same medical society. In case of the failure of either of the said societies to submit lists as aforesaid, the Governor shall appoint members in good standing of the corresponding society entitled to nominate without other restrictions.

Each one of the said appointees must be a registered physician in good standing, and shall have practiced medicine or surgery under the laws of this State for a period of not less than five years prior to such appointment.

The Governor shall fill vacancies by death or otherwise for unexpired terms of said examiners from the lists submitted as aforesaid, and may remove any member of either of said boards for continued neglect of the ditties required by this act, or on recommendation of the medical society of which said member may be in affiliation for unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.

The Governor shall in his first appointments designate the number of years for which each appointee shall serve.

The appointments of successors to those members whose terms of office will expire on the first day of March of each year shall be made by the Governor during the first ten days of January of such year, upon the same conditions and requirements as hereinbefore specified with reference to the appointment of two separate Examining Boards, each to be composed exclusively of members of the same medical society, as hereinbefore provided.

SECTION 7. Said boards shall be known by the name and style of "Boards of Medical Examiners of the State of Delaware". Every person who shall be appointed to serve on either of said boards shall receive a certificate of appointment from the Secretary of State under his hand. Each of said Boards of Examiners shall make and adopt all necessary rules, regulations and by-laws, not inconsistent with the laws of this State or of the United States, whereby to perform the ditties and transact the business required under the provisions of this act.

SECTION 8. From the fees provided by this act the Medical Council shall pay, not to exceed said income, all proper expenses incurred by its provisions; and if any surplus above .said expenses shall remain at the end of any year, it shall be, apportioned among said medical societies pro rata according to the number of candidates examined by each.

SECTION 9. The first meeting of each of the examining boards, respectively, shall be held on the first Tuesday of July, 1895. At such meeting of each of the boards, respectively, an organization shall be effected by the election from their own membership of a president and secretary, for the purpose of examining applicants for certificate for license. Each of said Boards of Medical Examiners shall hold two or more stated or special meetings in each year, clue notice of which shall be made public at such times, and places as they may determine. At said stated or special meetings a majority of the members of either board shall constitute a quorum thereof but the examination may be conducted by a committee duly authorized by said boards.

SECTION 10. Each Board of Medical Examiners, not less than one week prior to each examination, shall submit to the Medical Council of Delaware questions for thorough examinations in anatomy, physiology, hygiene, chemistry, surgery, obstetrics, pathology, diagnosis, therapeutics, practice of medicine and materia medica.

The Medical Council shall select the questions for such examinations from the lists of questions submitted by the Board of Medical Examiners of the candidate's election; and should there be candidates for examination of any other school than the two designated in this act, they shall be examined by the Council and some reputable practitioner in this State of such school, by said Council to be selected, upon questions selected from standard text books on the above subjects as taught by the school selected by the candidate.

SECTION 11. Said examinations shall be conducted in writing in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the respective Boards of Medical Examiners, and shall embrace the subjects named in Section 10 of this act. After each examination the Board of Medical Examiners having charge thereof shall, without unnecessary delay, act on the same. An official report of such action, signed by the president, secretary and each acting member of said Board of Medical Examiners, stating the result of examination, shall be transmitted to the Medical Council.

SECTION 12. On receiving from either of said Boards of the Medical Examiners such official report of the examination of any applicant for certificate for license, the Medical Council shall issue forthwith to each applicant who shall have been returned as having successfully passed the examination a certificate to that effect.

The Medical Council shall keep a record of all certificates, when and to whom issued.

SECTION 13. 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 ($10) dollars, 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 competent common school education, and has received a diploma conferring the degree of medicine from some legally-incorporated medical college. 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 three regular courses of lectures in different years, in some legally incorporated medical college or colleges prior to the granting of said diploma. Such proof, if required, shall be made upon affidavit. Upon 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 ($10) [dollars] shall upon demand be returned.

SECTION 14. That from and after the passage of this act it shalt not be lawful for any person to practice medicine or surgery in this State without having obtained a license therefor as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 15. The Clerk of the Peace of any of the counties of this State shall issue a license signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Secretary of State and sealed with the seal of his office, certifying that such person is authorized to practice medicine and surgery in this State, conformably to the laws thereof, to any person who shall present to him a certificate as provided in this act, or who shall have been qualified in one of the counties of this State prior to the passage of this act, and to no other person.

SECTION 16. The provisions of this act shall not apply to physicians who are practitioners of any other State coming into this State in consultation with any lawful practitioner of medicine and surgery in this State.

SECTION 17. Any person practicing or attempting to practice medicine or surgery within this State contrary to the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery of the county wherein the offense was committed shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred ($500.00) [dollars] nor less than one hundred-($100.00) dollars or be imprisoned for a term of not more than one year.

SECTION 18. That this act shall not in any way apply to dentists or to dental surgery.

SECTION 19. All other acts or parts of acts regulating the practice of medicine and surgery in this State are hereby repealed; but nothing herein contained shall in any way interfere with the operation of Chapter 117, Volume 13, Laws of Delaware, relating to revenue.

Passed at Dover, April 18, 1895.

*So enrolled.