MEDICAL  LAW  OF  NEW  YORK






<PRE>
Public Health Law, Chapter 45 of the Consolidated Laws.
                   Became a law February 17, 1909.
                   Amended to close legislation, 1913.

                   Article 8  Practice of Medicine

[160] Definitions. As used in this article:
(1) "The Education Department" means the Education Department of the State
of New York, as provided for by the Education Law.
(2)  "University" means University of the State of New York.
(3)  "Regents" means Board of Regents of the University of the State of New
York.
(4)  "Board" means the Board of Medical Examiners of the State of New York.
(5)  "Medical examiner" means a member of the Board of Medical Examiners of
the State of New York.
(6)  "Medical School" means any medical school, college, or department of a
university, registered by the Regents, as maintaining a proper medical
standard and as legally incorporated.
(7)  The practice of medicine is defined as follows:
    A person practices medicine within the meaning of this article, except
as hereinafter stated, who holds himself out as being able to diagnose,
treat, operate, or prescribe for any human disease, pain, injury, deformity
or physical condition, and who shall either offer or undertake, by any means
or method, to diagnose, treat, operate, or prescribe for any human disease,
pain, injury, deformity or physical condition.
(8)  "Physician" means a practitioner of medicine.

[161]  Qualifications:
    No person shall practice medicine, unless registered and legally
authorized prior to September 1, 1891, or unless licensed by the Regents and
registered under article 8 of Chapter 661 of the laws of 1893 and acts
amendatory thereto, or unless licensed by the Regents and registered as
required by this act; nor shall any person practice under this article who
has ever been convicted of a felony by any court, or whose authority to
practice is suspended or revoked by the Regents on recommendation of the
State board. The conviction of a felony shall include the conviction of any
offense which if committed within the State of New York would constitute a
felony under the laws thereof.

[162].  The State Board of Medical Examiners:
    The State Board of Medical Examiners is continued. The members of said
board now in office shall continue in office until the expiration of their
respective terms. Said board shall consist of nine members who shall be
appointed by the Regents and who shall hold office for three years from
August 1st of the year in which appointed. The Regents shall annually
appoint three members to fill the vacancies caused by expiration of term of
office, and may at any time fill vacancies on the board caused by death,
resignation, or removal from office. No person shall be appointed a member
of the Board of Medical Examiners who is not eligible to receive a license
to practice from the Regents in accordance with the provisions of this
article or of chapter 661 of the Laws of 1893 and acts amendatory thereof
and who has not been in practice in this State for at least five years prior
to date of appointment. The Regents may remove any member of the board of
examiners for misconduct, incapacity or neglect of duty. The Regents shall
appoint a secretary to the board of examiners, who shall not be a member of
the board, and who shall hold office during the pleasure of the Regents and
who shall receive an annual compensation of $4000, payable from the fees
received under this article. The secretary shall be a duly licensed
physician.

[163].  Certificate of appointment:
     Oath; powers: Every medical examiner shall receive a certificate of
appointment from the Regents and before beginning his term of office shall
file with the Secretary of State the constitutional oath of office. The
board, or any committee thereof, may employ counsel, shall have the power to
compel the attendance of witnesses, and may take testimony and proofs
concerning all matters within its jurisdiction. The board may, subject to
the Regents' approval, make all by-laws and rules not inconsistent with law
needed in performing its duty: but no by-law or rule by which more than a
majority vote is required for any specified action by the board shall be
amended, suspended or repealed by a smaller vote than that required for
action thereunder.

[164]  Expenses:
    The fees derived from the operation of this article shall be paid into
the State treasury, and the Legislature shall annually appropriate therefrom
for the Education Department an amount sufficient to pay all proper expenses
incurred pursuant to this article.

[165]  Officers; meetings; quorum; committees:
    The board shall annually elect from its members a president and a
vice-president for the academic year, and shall hold one or more meetings
each year pursuant to call of the Regents. At any meeting a majority shall
constitute a quorum; but questions prepared by the board may be grouped and
edited, or answer papers of candidates may be examined and marked by
committees duly authorized by the board and approved by the Regents.

[166]  Admission to examination:
    The Regents shall admit to examination any candidate who pays a fee of
$25 and submits evidence, verified by oath, and satisfactory to the Regents,
that he,
          1.  Is more than 21 years of age.
          2.  Is of good moral character.
        a3.  Had prior to beginning the second year of medical study the
general education required preliminary to receiving the degree of bachelor
or doctor of medicine in this State.
          4. Has studied medicine not less than four school years, including
four satisfactory courses of at least seven months each, in four different
calendar years in a medical school registered as maintaining at the time a
standard satisfactory to the Regents. New York medical schools and New York
medical students shall not be discriminated against by the registration of
any medical school out of the State whose minimum graduation standard is
less than that fixed by statutes for New York medical schools. The Regents
may, in their discretion, accept as the equivalent for any part of the third
and fourth requirement, evidence of five or more years reputable practice,
provided that such substitution be specified in the license and as the
equivalent of the first year of the fourth requirement, evidence of
graduation from registered college course, provided that such college course
shall have included not less than the minimum requirements prescribed by the
Regents for such admission to advanced standing. The Regents may also in
their discretion admit conditionally to the examination in anatomy,
physiology, hygiene, sanitation, and chemistry, applicants 19 years of age
certified as having studied medicine not less than two years including two
satisfactory courses of at least seven months each. In two different
calendar years, in a medical school registered as maintaining at the time a
satisfactory standard, provided that such applicants meet the second and
third requirements.
           5.  Has either received the degree of bachelor or doctor of
medicine from some registered medical school, or a diploma or license
conferring full right to practice medicine in some foreign country unless
admitted conditionally to the examinations as specified above. In which case
all qualifications, including the full period of study, the medical degree
and the final examinations in surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, pathology,
including bacteriology, and diagnosis must be met. The degree of bachelor or
doctor of medicine shall not be conferred in this State before the candidate
has filed with the institution conferring it the certificate of the Regents
that before beginning the first annual medical course counted toward the
degree, unless matriculated conditionally as hereinafter specified, he had
either graduated from a registered college or satisfactorily completed a
full course in a registered academy or high school; or had a preliminary
education considered and accepted by the Regents as fully equivalent; or
held a Regents medical student certificate; or passed Regents examination
securing 60 academic counts, as provided in the rule of the Regents, or
their full equivalent before beginning the first annual medical course
counted toward the degree, unless admitted conditionally as hereinafter
specified. A medical school may matriculate conditionally a student
deficient in not more than one year's academic work of 15 counts of the
preliminary education requirement, provided the name and deficiency of each
student so matriculated be filed at the Regents office within three months
after matriculation and that the deficiency be made up before the student
begins the second annual medical course counted toward the degree, provided,
however, that on and after the taking effect of this act (Jan. 1, 1913)
medical schools shall not deficient in any part of the preliminary
educational requirements specified in this subdivision.
           6. Where the application be for a license to practice osteopathy,
the applicant shall produce evidence that he has studied osteopathy not less
than three years, including three satisfactory courses of not less than nine
months each in three different calendar years in a college of osteopathy
maintaining at the time a standard satisfactory to the Regents. After 1910
the applicant for a license to practice under this article shall produce
evidence that he has studied not less than four years including four
satisfactory courses of not less than seven months each in four different
calendar years in a college maintaining at the time a standard satisfactory
to the Regents.

[167]  Questions:
    The board shall submit to the Regents, as required lists of suitable
questions for thorough examination in anatomy, physiology, hygiene,
sanitation, chemistry surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, pathlogy, including
bacteriology and diagnosis. From these lists the Regents shall prepare
question papers for all these subjects, which at any examination shall be
the same for all candidates, except that the examination may be divided as
provided in section 166.

[168]  Examinations and reports:
      Examinations for licenses shall be given in at least four convenient
places in this State and at least four times annually, in accordance with
the Regents rules, and shall be exclusively in writing and in English. Each
examination shall be conducted by a Regents examiner who shall not be one of
the medical examiners. At the close of each examination the Regents examiner
in charge shall deliver the questions and answer papers to the board or its
duly authorized committee, who, without unnecessary delay, shall examine and
mark the answers and transmit to the Regents an official report, signed by
its president and secretary, stating the standing of each candidate in each
branch, his general average and whether the board recommends that a license
be granted. Such report shall include the questions and answers and shall be
filed in the public records of the University. If a candidate fails on first
examination, he may, after not less than six months further study, have a
second examination without fee. If the failure is from illness or other
cause satisfactory to the Regents they may waive the required six months study.

(169)  Licenses:
      On receiving from the State board an official report that an applicant
has successfully passed the examinations and is recommended for license, the
Regents shall issue to him a license to practice according to the
qualifications of the applicant. Every license shall be issued by the
University under seal and shall be signed by each acting medical examiner
and by the officer of the University who approved the credential which
admitted the candidate to examination, and shall state that the licensee has
given satisfactory evidence of fitness as to age, character, preliminary and
medical education and all other matters required by law, and that after full
examination he has been found properly qualified to practice. Applicants
examined and licensed by other State examining boards registered by the
Regents as maintaining standards not lower than those provided by this
article and applicants who matriculated in a New York State medical school
before June 5, 1890 and who received the degree of doctor of medicine from a
registered medical school before August 1, 1895, may without further
examination, on payment of $25 to the Regents and on submitting such
evidence as they may require, receive from them an indorsement of their
licenses or diplomas conferring all rights and privileges of a Regents
license issued after examination. The Commissioner of Education may in his
discretion on the approval of the Broad of Regents indorse a license or
diploma of a physician from another state, provided the applicant has met
all the preliminary and professional qualifications required fa license on
examination in this State, has been in reputable practice for a period of
ten years, and has reached a position of conceded eminence and authority in
his profession.If any person, whose registration is not legal because of
some error, misunderstanding or unintentional omission, shall submit
satisfactory proof that he had all requirements prescribed by law at the
time of his imperfect registration and was entitled to be legally
registered, he may on unanimous recommendation of the State Board of Medical
Examiners receive from the Regents under seal a certificate of the facts
which may be registered by any county clerk and shall make valid the
previous imperfect registration. Before any license is issued it shall be
numbered and recorded in a book kept in the Regent's office, and its number
shall be noted in the license: and a photograph of the licensee filed with
the records. This record shall be open to public inspection, and in all
legal proceedings shall have the same weight as evidence that is given to a
record of conveyance of land.

[170]  Registry:  Revocation of License: Annulment of Registry:
         Every license to practice medicine shall, before the licensee
begins practice thereunder, be registered in a book kept in the clerk's
office of the county where such practice is to be carried on, with name,
residence, place and date of birth, and source, number and date of his
license to practice. Before registering, each licensee shall file, to be
kept in a bound volume in a county clerk's office, an affidavit of the above
facts, and also that he is the person named in such license, and had, before
receiving the same, complied with all requirements as to attendance, terms
and amount of study and examinations required by law and the rules of the
University as preliminary to the conferment thereof; that no money was paid
for such license, except the regular fees paid by all applicants therefor:
that no fraud, misrepresentation or mistake in any material regard was
employed by any one or occurred in order that such license should be
conferred. Every license, or if lost a copy thereof  legally certified so as
to be admissible as evidence, or a duly attested transcript of the record of
its conferment, shall, before registering, be exhibited to the county clerk,
who, only in case it was issued or indorsed as a license under seal by the
Regents, shall indorse or stamp on it the date and his name preceded by the
words: "Registered as authority to practice medicine in the clerk's office
of.................county." The clerk shall thereupon give to every
physician so registered a transcript of the entries in the register with a
certificate, under seal that he has filed the prescribed affidavit. The
Licensee shall pay to the county clerk a total fee of $1 for registration,
affidavit and certificate. The Regents shall have power at any and all times
to inquire into the identity of any person claiming to be a licensed or
registered physician and after due service of notice in writing, require him
to make reasonable proof, satisfactory to them, that he is the person
licensed to practice medicine under the license by virtue of which he claims
the privilege of this article. When the Regents find that a person claiming
to be a physician, licensed under this act, is not in fact the person to
whom the license was issued, they shall reduce their findings to writing and
file them in the office of the clerk of the county in which said person
resides or practices medicine. Said certificate shall be prima facie
evidence that the person mentioned therein is falsely impersonating a
practitioner or a former practitioner of a like or different name. The
Regents may revoke the license of a practitioner of medicine, or annul his
registration, or do both, in any of the following cases:
      a)  A practitioner of medicine who is guilty of any fraud or deceit in
his practice, or who is guilty of a 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 any criminal abortion as the same is
defined by section 80 of the penal law; or,
      d)  Who offers or undertakes by any manner or means to violate any of
the provisions of section 1142 of the penal law.
      Proceedings for revocation of a license or the annulment of
registration shall be begun by filing a written charge or charges against
the accused. These charges may be preferred by any person or corporation, or
the Regents may on their own motion direct the executive officer of the
Board of Regents to prefer said charges. Said charges shall be filed with
the executive officer of the Board of Regents, and a copy thereof filed with
the secretary of the Board of Medical Examiners. The Board of Medical
Examiners, when charges are preferred, shall designate three of their number
as a committee to hear and determine said charges. A time and place for the
hearing of said charges shall be fixed by said committee as soon as
convenient, and a copy of the charges, together with a notice of the time
and place when they will be heard and determined, shall be served upon the
accused or his counsel, at least ten days before the date actually fixed for
said hearing. Where personal service or service upon counsel can not be
effected, and such fact is certified on oath by any person duly authorized
to make legal service, the Regents shall cause to be published for at least
seven times, for at least twenty days prior to the hearing, in two daily
papers in the county in which the physician was last known to practice, a
notice to the effect that at a definite time and place a hearing will be had
for the purpose of hearing charges against the physician upon an application
to revoke his license. At said hearing the accused shall have the right to
cross-examine the witnesses against him and to produce witnesses in his
defense and to appear personally or by counsel. The said committee shall
make a written report of its findings and recommendations, to be signed by
all its members, and the same shall be forthwith transmitted to the
executive officer of the Board of Regents. If the said committee shall
unanimously find that said charges, or any of them are sustained, and shall
unanimously recommend that the license of the accused be revoked or his
registration be annulled, the Regents may thereupon in their discretion,
revoke said license or annul said  registration, or do both. If the Regents
shall annul such registration, they shall forthwith transmit to the clerk of
the county or counties in which said accused is registered as a physician, a
certificate under their seal certifying that such registration has been
annulled, and said clerk shall, upon receipt of said certificate, file the
same and forthwith mark said registration "Annulled." Any person who shall
practice medicine after his registration has been marked "Annulled" shall be
deemed to have practiced medicine without registration. Where the license of
any person has been revoked, or his registration has been annulled as herein
provided, the Regents may, after the expiration of one year, entertain an
application for a new license, in like manner as original applications for
licenses are entertained; and upon such new application they may in their
discretion, exempt the applicant from the necessity of undergoing any examination.

[171]  Registry in another county:
      A practising physician having registered a lawful authority to
practice medicine in one county, and removing such practice or part thereof
to another county, or regularly engaging in practice or opening an office in
another county shall show or send by registered mail to the clerk of such
other county, his certificate of registration. If such certificate clearly
shows that the original registration was of an authority issued under seal
by the Regents, or if the certificate itself is indorsed by the Regents as
entitled to registration, the clerk shall thereupon register the applicant
in the latter county, on receipt of a fee of 25 cents, and shall stamp or
indorse on such certificate the date and his name preceded by the word,
"Registered also in...........county," and return the certificate to the applicant.

[172]  Certificate presumptive evidence; unauthorized registration and
license prohibited:
      Every unrevoked certificate and indorsement of registry, made as
provided in this article, shall be presumptive evidence in all courts and
places, that the person named therein is legally registered. Hereafter no
person shall register any authority to practice medicine unless it has been
issued or indorsed as a license by the Regents. No such registration shall
be valid unless the authority registered constituted, at the time of
registration, a license under the laws of the State then in force. No
diploma or license conferred on a person not actually in attendance at the
lectures, instruction and examinations of the school conferring the same, or
not possessed at the time of its conferment of the requirements then
demanded of medical students in this State as a condition of their being
licensed so to practice, and no registration not in accordance with this
article shall be lawful authority to practice medicine, nor shall the degree
of doctor of medicine be conferred causa honoris or ad eundem, nor if
previously conferred, shall it be a qualification for such practice.

[173]  Construction of this article:
      The article shall not be construed to affect commissioned medical
officers serving in the United States army, navy or marine hospital service,
while so commissioned, or any one 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
practising
dentistry; or any person or manufacturer who mechanically fits or sells
lenses, artificial eyes, limbs or other apparatus or appliances, or is
engaged in the mechanical examination of eyes, for the purpose of
constructing or adjusting spectacles, eyeglasses and lenses; or any lawfully
qualified physician in other states or countries meeting legally registered
physicians in this State in consultation; or any physician residing on a
border of a neighboring state and duly licensed under the laws thereof to
practice medicine therein, whose practice extends into this state, and who
does not open an office or appoint a place to meet patients or receive calls
within this state; or any physician duly registered in one county called to
attend isolated cases in another county, but not residing or habitually
practicing therein; or the furnishing of medical assistance in case of
emergency; or the domestic administration of family remedies; or the
practice of chiropody; or the practice of the religious tenets of any
church. This article shall be construed to repeal all acts or parts of acts
authorizing conferment of any degree in medicine causa honoris or ad eundem
or otherwise than on students duly graduated 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 any person who shall
be actively engaged in the practice of osteopathy in the State of New York
on the 13th day of May, 1907, and who shall present to the Board of Regents
satisfactory evidence that he is a graduate in good standing of a regularly
conducted school or college of osteopathy within the United States which at
the time of his or her graduation required a course of study of two years or
longer, including th subjects of anatomy, physiology, pathology, hygiene,
chemistry, obstetrics, diagnosis and the theory and practice of osteopathy,
with actual  attendance of not less than twenty months, which facts shall be
shown by his or her diploma and affidavit, shall upon application and
payment of $10 be granted, without examination, a license to practice
osteopathy, provided application for such license he made within six months
after the 13th day of May, 1907. A license to practice osteopathy shall not
permit the holder thereof to administer drugs or perform surgery with the
use of instruments. Licenses to practice osteopathy shall be registered in
accordance with the provisions of this article and the word osteopath be
included in such registration; and such license shall entitle the holder
thereof to the use of the degree D.O., or doctor of osteopathy.

[174]  Penalties and their collection:
      Any person who, not being then lawfully authorized to practice
medicine within this State and so registered according to law, shall
practice medicine within this State without lawful registration or in
violation of any provision of this article; and any person who shall buy,
sell, or fraudulently obtain any medical diploma, license, record, or
registration, or who shall aid or abet such buying, selling or fraudulently
obtaining, or who shall practice medicine undercover of any medical diploma,
license, record or registration illegally obtained, or signed or issued
unlawfully or under fraudulent representations, or mistake of fact in a
material regard, or who, after conviction of a felony, shall attempt to
practice medicine, or shall so practice, and any person who shall in
connection with his name use any designation tending to imply or designate
him as a practitioner of medicine within the meaning of this article without
having registered in accordance therewith, or any person who shall practice
medicine or advertise to practice medicine under a name other than his own,
or any person not a registered physician who shall advertise to practice
medicine, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who shall practice
medicine under a false or assumed name, or who shall falsely personate
another practitioner or former practitioner of a like or different name
shall be
guilty of a felony. When any prosecution under this article, or under
sections 80, 81, 82, 1142, 1747 of the penal law, and any amendments
thereto, is made on the complaint of any incorporated medical society of the
State, or any county medical society entitled to representation in a State
society, any fines collected shall be paid to the society making the
complaint, and any excess of the amount of fines so paid over the expense
incurred by the said society in enforcing the medical laws of this State,
shall be paid at the end of the year to the county treasurer.

This completes the transcribing of the Medical Law of New York, February 17,
1909 as listed in its entirety on Pages: 1098-1101 of the Polk's Medical
Register and Directory of North America 1914-1915.


Source:  Polk's Medical Register and Directory of North America.  Thirteenth
Revised Edition. 1914-1915.
Publisher:  R.L. Polk and Company-Detroit, New York and Chicago.
Copyright:  1914

Transcribed by Miriam Medina
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