The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-03-02
THAT MEDICAL LAW
DRu,Is1ER,s STATEMENTS WEIGH
ED IN PROFESSIONAL BALANCES.
Some Arguments on the Physician.
Side.

Since the Legislature has been in ses-
sion, there have been number of petit
lions presented in opposition to the
medical law of Utah.
Various articles have also appeared
in The Herald upon the same subject.
But little has been said, however, in re-
ply, by the advocates of a sound medi-
cal law, as they have trusted, l pre-
sumo, to the wisdom of the Legislature
to see the necessity of such law.
But when an article such as that
in your issue of the goth inst. and sign
ed Drummer" appears in a prominent
paper like The Herald, it is apt to
carry more weight at first sight than
| it deserves.
With the exception, perhaps, of the
cases cited, there, is but little truth in
the whole article There is nothing in
the. medical law to prevent anyone call
| ing in a professional nurse, or even an
unprofessional prescriber of medical
remedies to any mere case of sickness
| if they so desire, nor is there anything
in the law, to prevent any person from
attending any of the cases cited by
Drummer if the patients are satisfied
with that class of practitioners, so that
Drummer wall about the hardships
of travelling seventy-five or more miles
for medical aid is without foundation
in fact, as the cases cited would come
under the head of cases of emergency,
which are covered by section of the
medical law, which is as follows, to-
wit:
ANY person shall be regarded as
lpracticing medicine within the meaning
of this act, who shall treat, operate
upon, or prescribe for any physical all
ment of another for a fee or who shall
hold him or herself out by means of
signs, advertisements, or otherwise, as
physician or surgeon; but nothing in
| this act shall be construed to prohibit
service in case OF emergency, or the
administration of family remedies
| 1t will be seen by the above section
| that, If a person should fall and break
their neck, there is nothing in the law
to prevent Drummer" or anyone else
from mending it, if they think they
have the requisite skill
| Drummer is not logical to start with;
| for instance the boy at Orderville
| thrown from a horse, struck the back
of his head upon the ice! The skin was
unbroken, but the blood gathered under
the scalp, and the parents of the boy
thought the skull was broken.
An experienced party, says Drummer
said the skull was not broken, but re-
fused to let the blood out on account
of the law.
Now that experienced party was
either ignorant or fraud, because. had
he the experience, he would have made
| no such an assertion, for a regular
surgeon could not have told under that
tumor OF blood, with the skin unbroken
whether the skull was cracked or not
The other cases cited are equally ri
diculous, whether from the standpoint
| of the law or medicine.
| Further along he says: Il am salts
fed that statistics will fail to show
cases of malpractice in Utah except by
professional doctors.p From this it is
evident that Drummer knows nothing
of the subject of which he talks.
| If he did, he would know that al
remedies applied without a knowledge
of the disease for which they are given
is malpractice, and with regard to sta
tistics, with the exception, perhaps, Of
Salt Lake city and Ogden, can Drum,
mer give us statistics of any kind thai
relates to the causes of death in the
territory? Can he tell US how many
women have been sacrificed from The
want of knowledge of the mechanism
lOf labor? How many have died from
puerperal fever that might have beer
saved, had the attendants known the
conditions necessary to prevent it, o,
| the knowledge how to combat it after
the onset? How many graves have
| been filed with the victims of pneu.
monia that might have been saved il
the nature of the disease had beer
recognized before the pain and difficulty
of breathing had made it only too ap-
| parent? How many cases OF dropsy