Chap. 84.—An ACT to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery and
to repeal all acts or parts of acts of the general assembly of Virzinia,
and any section or sections of the Code of Virginia in corflict with the
provisions thereof, especially an act entitled an act to regulate the
practice of medicine and surgery in the State of Virginia, approved
February 22, 1894, and sections 1744, 1745, 1746, 1747, 1748, 1749, 1750,
1751 and 1752, of the Cede of Virginia of 1887, and all amendments
thereto. (S. B. 64.)

Approved February 29, 1916.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia as follows:

1. Board of medical examiners.—A board, to be known as
the board of medical examiners for the State of Virginia, is
hereby established, which shall consist of one member from each
congressional district in this State, and in addition, five from the
State at large, two of whom shall be homeopathic phvsicians:
provided, however. that cn April first, nineteen hundred and
fourteen, the board shall consist of one regular phvsician from
each congressional district, and one homeopathic and one osteo-
path from the State at large. The term of office of the mem-
bers cf said board shall be four years, or until their successors
are appointed and quvalifv. and thev shall be men learned ir
medicine and legal and active practitioners in the State of Vir.
ginia.
2. How appointed—The members of the board shall be
appointed by the governor on or before the first day of April,
nineteen hundred and fourteen and every fourth year there-
after, from a list of names to be recommended by the Medical
Society of Virginia, except the homeopath and osteopath, who
shall be nominated to him by their respective State medical
society. Vacancies occurring on said board for unexpired terms
shall be filfed in the same manner, and shall be to fill the un-
expired term only. Such recommendations shall be by the
votes of a majority present at a meeting of the said societies,
and the same shall be certified to the governor by the president
and secretary of such society; provided, however, in case the
governor shall consider any of the persons so recommended
unsuitable, he may decline to appoint such person or persons,
and communicate the facts to the president of the society pre-
senting the nomination, and such society shall, within ninety
days thereafter, make other recommendations in the same man-
ner as hereinbefore provided, which shall stand on the same
footing in all respects as those first made; provided, further,
if such society shall fail to make such recommendation prior
to the time of appointment, or within the ninety days, the gov-
ernor shall appoint such board, either in whole or in part, with-
out regard to such recommendations. If any member of the
board shall cease to reside in the district from which he was
appointed, his office shall be deemed vacant. The governor
may summarily remove any member of the board for miscon-
duct, incapacity or neglect of duty, and he shall be the sole
judge of the sufficiency of the cause for removal. The mem-
bers of the present board shall continue in office until the ex-
piration of their respective terms, April first, nineteen hun-
dred and fourteen.

3. Oaths, powers, meetings.—The members of said board
shall qualify by taking the usual oath of office before the circuit
or corporation court of the county or corporation in which they
respectively reside, or before the judge thereof in vacation.
The officers of said board shall be a president, vice-president
and a secretary (who shall also act as treasurer), said officers
to be members of and selected by the said board. Regular meet-
ings of the board shall be held at such times and places as the
board shall prescribe, and special meetings may be held upon
the call of the president and any five members, but there shal]
not be less than one regular meeting each year. Five members
of the board shall constitute a quorum. The board may pre-
scribe rules and regulations and by-laws for its own proceed-
ings and government and for the examination by its members
of candidates for the practice of medicine, including the scope
of the said examination. Due notice of such meeting shall be
yiven by publication in such papers as may be selected by the
hoard. The board, or any committee thereof, may employ
counsel, shall have the power to compel attendance of witnesses
and administer oaths, and may take testimony and proofs con-
cerning all matters within its jurisdiction. No by-law or rule
by which the vote of a majority of the board is required for
any specified action shall be suspended or repealed by a smaller
vote than that required for action thereunder.

4, Preservation of records.—The board shall preserve a
record of its proceedings in a book kept for that purpose, which
shall show the name, age, place and duration of residence therein
of each applicant for a license, the time spent in medical study
in respective medical schools, and the year and school from
which degrees were granted; said record shall also show whether
applicants were granted a certificate or rejected, and shall be
prima facie evidence of all matters contained therein. The sec-
retary of the board shall, on the first day of March of each vear,
transmit a copy of said record, together with a photograph of
cach licensee, to the superintendent of the board of education
of the State of Virginia, for permanent record, and certified
copies of the said records, under the hand and seal of the sec-
retary of the board or of the said superintendent, shall be
admissible as evidence in all of the courts of this State.

5. Registration of certificates; duties of clerks.—Every
certificate to practice medicine granted under the provisions
of this act shall, before the licensee begins to practice, thereun-
der, be presented by him to the clerk of the circuit court of
the county or the corporation court of the city wherein such
practice is to be carried on. The clerk of each of said courts
shall keep a book for the purpose, entitled the “‘medicel regis-
ter,” 9nd set apart one full nage therein for the registration
of each licensee. and he shall record therein the name. resi-
dence, vlace and date of birth and source. number and date
of the license to practice, and the school of practice to which
cach licensee professes to belong, and each licensee shall sub-
scribe and verifv under oath the matters above mentioned when
the same have been so recorded, which if wilfully false, shall
subject the person so making oath to conviction and punish-
ment for false swearing as provided by law. The fact of such
oath and record shall be endorsed by the said clerk upon each
certificate presented, and the clerk shall receive the sum of
one dollar from each licensee so registered, which shall be his
full comnensation for all duties required under this act. The
holder of a certificate to practice medicine must have the same
recorded upon each change of residence to another county or
corporation, and the absence of such record shall be prima
facie evidence of the want of possession of such certificate.
When any licensee shall die or remove from the county or cor-
poration, or have his certificate revoked, it shall be the duty
of said clerk to make a note of the facts at the bottom of the
page of the said licensee as closing his record. On the first
day of January in each year said clerk shall. on the request
of the board, certify to the president thereof a correct list
of the licensees then registered in the county or ccrporation,
together with such other information as said board may re-
quire. Any clerk, upon conviction of knowingly violating any
provision of this act shall be fined not more than fifty dollars
for each offense. A copy of the ‘“‘medical register” pertaining
to any person certified to by a clerk, under seal of court; also
a certificate issued by said clerk, certifying that any person
named has or has not registered in his office, as required by
this act, shall be admitted as evidence in all courts of this State.

6. Registration of certificates; verification of certificates ;
duplicate certificates; reciprocity——Within one year after the
passage of this act all licensed practitioners of medicine in this
State shall, as above provided, register their certificates to
practice medicine, in the office of the clerk of the circuit or
corporation court of the county or corporation in which they
reside. Legal practitioners of medicine practicing under the pro-
visions of previous laws who have not already received a license
from the State medical examining board of this State, shall pre-
sent to the board documents sufficient to establish the existence
and validity of a diploma granted to each by some bona fide
college of medicine, or to establish their exemption existing
under any law, and shall receive from the said board a veri-
fication license, which shall be recorded in the clerk’s office of
the circuit or corporation court of the county or city in which
the licensee resides, as provided above for original licensees,
and duly endorsed by said clerk in like manner. Such verifica-
tion license shall be issued for a fee of fifty cents to all practi-
tioners so qualifying who have not already received a license
from a board of medical examiners of this State. It is especially
provided that those whose claims to State license rest upon
having practiced in the State previous to the year eighteen
hundred and eighty-five. shall present to the board satisfactory
evidence of having legally practiced medicine in this State be-
fore eighteen hundred and eighty-five or if an osteopath, be-
fore the year nineteen hundred and three. The board may, at
its discretion, arange for reciprocity with the authorities of
other States, territories and countries having requirements
equal to those established by this act. Cortificates may be
granted applicants to practice under such reciprocity on pay-
ment of a fee of fifty dollars to the secretary of the board. The
president may, upon recommendation of reciprocity committee
and with the consent of the executive committee, issue certi-
ficates to such applicants as are entitled to reciprocity under
this act at any time. whether the board is in session or not.
Legal practitioners who have lost their State board certificates
must obtain dunlicate certificates bv furnishing to the secretary
cf the board satisfactory proofs of the issuance to the individual!
of the former certificates. and uvon payment of a fee of one
dollar, nnd the new certificates when issued must be registered
as hereinbefore provided for original licenses.
7. Violations, trial, powers of board refusing examina-
tion.—The State board of medical examiners, or any member
thereof, sha]Jl have the power at any time to inquire into the
identity of any person claiming to be a licensed or registered
practitioner, and after due service upon such person of a notice
in writing, require him to make reasonable proof, satisfactory
to the board, that he is the identical person licensed to prac-
tice medicine under the license by virtue of which he claims
the right to practice. If, after such inquiry, it is found that
the person is practicing wrongfully, or if after due investiga-
tion by the above named authorities, or any one of them, any
person whatsoever is found to be violating any of the provisions
of this act, it shall be the duty of such investigator to transmit
to the Commonwealth’s attorney of the county or corporation
wherein such person resides, or is or has been practicing or
attempting to practice, all the evidence in their possession tend-
ing to establish such violation of this act; and it. shall be the
duty of the said Commonwealth’s attorney to immediately
prosecute such person for violation of this act, if, in his opinion,
the evidence so presented is sufficient to convict, and upon trial
th¢ burden of proof shall be upcn the defendant to prove his
right to practice; and the circuit court of the county wherein
the offense is committed shall have original jurisdiction con-
current with the justices of said county in the trial of such
person for such offense, and the corporation courts of the sev-
eral cities of this Commonwealth shall have original jurisdic-
tion concurrent with the police justices of such cities. The
board may refuse to admit persons to its examinations, or to
issue the certificates provided for in this act, or may revoke
any certificate or verification certificate granted by it or by
any other medical examining board in this State, in any of
the following cases:

(a) <A _ practitioner of medicine or chiropody, who is
guilty of any crime or misdemeanor or who is guilty of any
fraud or deceit by which he was admitted to practice, or

(b) Is an habitual drunkard or habitually addicted to the
use of morphine, opium, cocaine or other drugs having a similar
effect; or

(c) Who undertakes or engages in any manner or by any
ways or means whatsoever, to procure or perform a criminal
abortion, as the same is defined by the law of this State.

Provided, that any applicant who may be refused admittance
to examinations before said board, or who may be refused a
certificate by said board, or who may have his certificate re-
voked by said board shall have his right of action to have such
issue tried by the circuit court of the county or the corporation
court of the city within whose jurisdiction he may reside, and
the proceedings to try such issue, shall be begun by the filing
of a petition by such person in such court reciting the facts and
making the said board the party defendant; whereupon after
due service of process upon the member of said board resid-
ing in the congressional district in which said county or city
is located, at least ten days before the trial, the court shall
proceed to try the issue, the burden of proof being upon the
petitioner to establish his right to be examined, to be granted
certificate or to practice. It shall be the duty of the Common-
wealth’s attorney of the said county or corporation to appear
on behalf of the board and to file any answer that he may deem
expedient on its behalf, and to defend the said action before
the court. The judgment of the court upon the issue tried
shall be final. The board, or any member thereof, may investi-
gate any person practicing or attempting to practice, or open-
ing an office for the ostensible purpose of practicing medicine
in this State, and may require such person to produce his cer-
tificate granted by the board, or document sufficient to establish
his right to practice medicine under this act; and, in case such
person fails or refuses to prove his right to practice, the in-
vestigator shall report the case to the Commonwealth’s attorney
of the county or corporation wherein such person is practicing
or attempting or offering to practice, and it shall be the duty
of such Commonwealth’s attorney to immediately prosecute
such person for violating this act. and upon the trial of such
person the burden of proof shall be upon him to establish his
right to practice.

Where the license of anv person has been revoked, or his
registration has been annulled as herein provided. the board
may. after the expiration of twelve months, uvon the pavment
of a fee of five dollars, entertain an application for a new license,
and jn like manner as original applications for licenses are en-
tertained, and uvon such new application they may. in their
discretion, exempt the applicant from the necessity of undergo-
ing an examination.

Admission to examination; power of board.—All appli-
cants for certificates to practice medicine in this State after the
passage of this act must successfully pass an examination be-
fore tre board of medical examiners established bv this act.
The said board shell admit to examination any candidate who
pavs 1 fee of twenty-five dollars. and submits evidence verified
by affidavit ard satisfactcry to the board that he:

(a) Is twenty-one years of age or more.

(b) Is of gocd moral character.

(c) Had prior to the beginning of his first year of medical
studv the general education required vreliminarv to receiving
the degree of bachelor or doctor of medicine in this State. This
preliminary cducaticn shall meet the requirements of the board
of education of the State of Virginia, and a certified statement
from the superintendent of said board shall accompany the
candidate’s application.

(d) Has studied medicine not less than four school years,
including four satisfactory courses of at Icast eight months
each in four different calendar years in a medical school regis-
tered as maintaining a standard satisfactory to the State board
of education. Virginia medical schools and Virginia medical
students shall not be discriminated against by the registration
of any medical school outside of the State whose minimum
graduation standard is less than that fixed by statute for Vir-
ginia medical schools. The above clause of sub-section (d) shall
not apply until April first, nineteen hundred and fourteen.

The board may in their discretion accept as the equivolent
of the first year of requirement (d), evidence of graduation
from a registered college course, provided that such college
course shall not have included less than the minimum require-
ments prescribed by the board and by the-State board of educa-
tion for such admissions to advanced standing.

The board may also, at their discretion, admit conditionally
to the examination in anatomy and histology, physiology and
chemistry, applicants nineteen years of age, or more, certified
as having studied medicine at some registered medical college
not less than two years, including two satisfactory courses of
at least eight months each, in two different calendar years, and
having passed in all of those medical branches at the said col-
lege, but the said college must be registered as maintaining at
the time a standard satisfactory to the State board of education ;
provided, further, that such applicant must meet requirements

and c. .

The board may also, at their discretion, accept as equivalent
of any part of requirements ¢c and d, five or more years of legal
and reputable practice, and such candidate shall be exempted
from taking the examinations in anatomy, histology, physiology,
and chemistry.

(e) Has either received the degree of bachelor or doctor of
course counted toward the degree; provided, however, that when
an applicant has failed to pass a satisfactory examination, he
may appear before the board again once within one year with-
out paying an additional fee; provided, that any person who shall
produce before the said examining board a certificate from the
judge of the circuit court and the Commonwealth’s attorney of
the county in which he resides, stating that in their opinion,
from evidence produced before them, he was a practicing physi-
cian in Virginia prior to the first day of January, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-five, then said examining board shall give to
said person a certificate allowing said person to practice medi-
cine in Virginia.

9. Expenditure of funds.—The funds realized from all fees
collected by the board shall be applied first to the payment of the
hecessary expenses of the board; and remaining funds shall be
applied by order of the board for the compensation of the mem-
bers of the board in proportion to their labors. _

10. Conduct of examinations.—Al]l examinations shall be
conducted in writing, together with practical tests, when the
majority of the board may deem necessary, in such manner as
shall be entirely fair and impartial to all individuals and every
school of medicine, the applicants being known by members,
without names or other method of identification on examination
papers by which members of the board may be able to identify
such papers until after the applicants have been granted cer-
tificates or rejected. Upon satisfactory examination, under the
rules of the board, applicants shall be granted certificates to
practice medicine. All certificates shall be attested by the signa-
ture and seal of the president and secretary of the board, re-
spectively.

_ 11. Exemptions from examination; exceptions.— Nothing
In this act shall be construed to affect commissioned or con-
tract medical officers serving in the United States army, navy
or public health and marine hospital service, while so commis-
sloned and in the performance of their duties, but such shall not
engage in private practice without license from the board of
medical examiners of the State and the board may issue cer-
tificates of qualification without examination to medical officers
in the public service of the United States on presentation of sat-
isfactory credentials. On the face of these certificates it must
appear that they were issued pro forma, and without examina-
tion. This shall not affect any person while actually serving
without salary or professional fees on the resident medical staff
of any legally Incorporated hospital, or any legally registered
dentist exclusively engaged in practicing dentistry: or any non-
itinerant person or manufacturer who mechanically fits or sells

, L paratus or appli
or is engaged in the mechanical examination of eyes for the
purpose of adjusting spectacles, eye-glasses or lenwac: 7. -
lawfully qualified practitioner from other States, territories or
counties meeting legally registered practitioners in this State
in consultation, but who does not open offices or appoint places
in this State where patients may be met or called to be seen ;
or to limit in any way the manufacture or sale of proprietary
medicines by licensed druggists in this State; or to the furnish-
ing of medical assistance in cases of emergency; cr to the do-
mestic administration of family remedies; or to the practice
of the religious tenets of any church in the ministration to the
sick or suffering by mental or spiritual means without the use
of any drug or material remedy, whether gratuitously or for
compensation, provided sanitary laws are complied with; or to
affect or interfere in any way with the operation of any hos-
pital now established in this State; or to any nerson while en-
gaged in conducting such hospital now established, if there be
a licensed practitioner resident or practicing therein; or to any
person who commenced the practice of osteopathy in this State
prior to January first, nineteen hundred and three; or to any
person who commenced the practice of chiropody in this State
prior to January first, nineteen hundred and sixteen; or to any
person who commenced the practice of chiropractic in the State
prior to January first, nineteén hundred and thirteen; or io
nurses who practice nursing only; or to masseurs, in their par-
ticular sphere of labor, who publicly represent themselves as
such. This article shall be construed to apply to persons not
pretending to be physicians, who offer for sale on the streets or
other public places or leave gratuitously at residences, reme-
dies which they recommend for the healing or curing of disease.
This article shall be construed to repeal all acts or parts of acts
authorizing conferment of any degree in medicine causa honoris
or ad cundem gradum or otherwise than on students duly grad-
uated after satisfactory completion of a preliminary medical
course, not less than that required by this article as a condition
of license. It is further provided that graduates of any sec-
tarian school of medicine who profess to practice medicine ac-
cording to the tenets of said schools shall fulfill all the condi-
ditions of the board and of the State board of education, save
that they may be exempted from taking the examination of the
regulars on practice of medicine, materia medica and thera-
peutics. A license to practice such sectarian school of medicine
shall not permit the holder thereof to administer drugs or
practice surgery unless he has qualified himself so to do by ex-
amination before the board, nor shall it permit members of such
sectarian schools now practicing in this State to perform sur.
gery with the use of instruments unless they satisfv the board
that they have had adequate clinical facilities at their respective
colleges of graduation, or by hospital work, to enable them tc
yerform such operations.
It is further provided that chiropodists shall take the special
examination as provided by the section to regulate chiropody
and be limited in their practice according to the prcvisions of
that act.

11-b. All legal practitioners of chiropody in the State of
Virginia who, upon investigation, are found to be twenty-one
years of age, and are of good moral character at the time of the
enforcement of such provision in the medical act of nineteen
hundred and sixteen, or supplements thereto, concerning the
practice of chiropody, shall furnish to the State board of medi-
cal examiners, such other information as may be deemed advis-
able, establish the proper record on forms provided by said
board and shall submit evidence verified by oath; if requirements
are to the satisfaction of the said board, shall, upon payment of
five dollars, be issued a certificate to practice chiropody in the
State of Virginia. The certificate shall be filed in the county
clerk’s office upon payment of one dollar. Books and other
forms must be provided for the proper registrations. Certifi-
cates must be displayed in a conspicuous place.

11-c. All persons desiring to practice chiropody in the State
of Virginia, except those in section eleven-b, will be required to
be examined by the State board of medical examiners on the
following subjects: Anatomy and physiology of the feet, ma-
teria medica, therapeutics, chemistry, minor surgery, pathology
and bandaging, and shall submit evidence, verified by oath, to
the board, that they are twenty-one years of age or over, of
good moral character and have been graduated from a school
of chiropody, or equivalent institution recognized by said board,
having a& minimum requirement of one year’s course of at least
eight months. That the educational requirements admitting
persons to take examinations are to be equivalent to a grammar
school and one year high school course, this to be improved upon
later if the board thinks necessary. Places at which examina-
tions will be held and dates to be named by the State board of
medica] examiners. The fee charged for examinations shall be
twenty dollars.

12. Definition of practice of medicine.—Any person shall
be regarded as practicing medicine within the meaning of this
act (1) who opens an office for such purpose, or announces to
the public In any way a readiness to practice medicine in any
county or city of the State, or prescribe for, or give surgical
assistance, heals, cures, or relieves those suffering from injury
or deformity or disease of mind or body, or advertises, or an-
nounces to the public in any manner a readiness or ability to
heal, cure or relieve those who may be suffering from injury
or deformity, or disease of mind or body for a compensation :
(2) or who shall use in connection with his name the words
or letters “Dr.,” “Doctor,” “Professor,” “M. D.” or “Healer”
or any other title, word, letter or designation intending to imply
or designate him as a practitioner of medicine in any of its
branches, or of being able to heal, cure, or relieve those who
may be suffering from injury or deformity or disease of mind
or body. This section shall also apply to corporations.

12-a. Definition of the word chiropody shall, for the pur-
pose of this act, be held to be the medical, mechanical or surgi-
cal treatment of the local ailments of the human hand or foot,
except the correction of deformities through the use of the
knife, amputation of the foot, hand, toes, fingers, or incisions
involving deep structures, or the use of anesthetics other than
local.

13. Penalties.—Any person practicing medicine: or chirop-
ody in this State in violation of the provisions of this act, or
otherwise violating the same, shall, upon conviction thereof, be
fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dol-
lars for each offense, and in addition may be imprisoned in the
jail of the county or corporation in which convicted, for a term
not exceeding six months, and each day of such violation shall
constitute a separate offense; and in no case shall the violator
be entitled to recover anything for the services rendered. And
it shall be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court of the county,
or the clerk of the corporation court of the city wherein such
conviction is had, to report the fact of the same to the board of
medical cxaminers, who shall thereupon annul the license of the
person convicted, if said person was a licensed practitioner.

_ 14. All acts or parts of acts of the general assembly of Vir-
ginia, and any section or sections of the Code of Virginia in con-
flict with the provisions hereof, especially an act entitled an act
to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery in the State of
Virginia, approved February twenty-second, eighteen hundred
and ninety-four, and sections seventeen hundred and forty-four,
seventeen hundred and forty-five, seventeen hundred and forty-
six, seventeen hundred and forty-seven, seventeen hundred and
forty-eight, seventeen hundred and forty-nine, seventeen hun-
dred and fifty, seventeen hundred and fifty-one, seventeen hun-
dred and fifty-two, of the Code of Virginia, of eighteen hun-
dred and eighiy-seven, and all amendments thereto, are hereby
repealed.

_ 15. Owing to the fact that there is an immediate neces-
sity for the going into effect of this act in order to properly
regulate the practice of medicine in the State of Virginia, an
emergency is declared to exist, and this act shall be in force
from its passage.