The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-08-18
NO WRITTEN
RULES EXIST

THE Board of Medical Examiners has
no written rules said DR.. George Her
bert to Acting Governor Atkinson yes
terday. There is no such thing in
existence"
And so that story about the inner.
itanceof the written rule that physicians
shall take their examination, for license
to practice. In the English language IL
fairy tale and the regulation is
regulation that the Board of Examin-
ers enforces without ever having writ
ten 1t down. 1t has not even the de-
gree of responsibility that 1t might
have got from having been writ
ten long ago. DIR. Judd, by the
way, is quoted as authority for the
statement that the rule about language
was an Inheritance from former boards
of examiners. DIR. Judd is likewise
given as authority for the statement
that there is such rule-but that. by
the way, seems to be pretty generally
admitted. And DR.. Judd and DIR. Her
bert are both right, in all probability,
because rule may be a rule-and en-
| forced, too-even although it is not
written down.
| The question of the existence of this
particular rule has arisen because pri-
marily. the Acting Governor had asked
| for copy of the rules of the Board
of Medical Examiners. OF course, IL
the board had any rules. the Acting
Governor would be entitled to see them,
even if he was not entitled to approve
them upon adoption, or to amend them
after adoption. The Acting Governor
found some little difficulty in getting
the rules, and at last became impa-
tient. 1t was at this point DIR. Herbert
gave the Information that there were
no written rules of the Board of Medi-
cal Examiners.
| OF course, If there were no written
rules, the Acting Governor could not
see them. 1t would take a man of
keener vision even than Governor At
kinson to see set of rules that is held
inside the heads of three doctors. Be-
sides, the doctors might change their
minds. Doctors often do.
Secondly, the question of the exist
ence of the rule about the examination
in English has arisen because the Jap.
anese in Hawaii, who form the larger
part of the population, have complain-
ed, and many people think with JUS
tice, because so long as that rule was
enforced japanese doctors who might
be thoroughly qualified to practice
medicine. but who We're not conversant
with the English language, would be
debarred from practice, and the Japan
ese who could not or might not want to
( make their physical ills known to an
English doctor, would be cut off from
the chance of medical assistance in
time of sickness. Moreover. many jap
anese-in fact, most Japanese-could
not make their ills properly understood
in English, and a man with cramp
collie might be treated for appendicitis,
and neither man nor doctor be the
wiser-until after the operation.
More than that, rule of that kind
would not only keep OUT Japanese doc
tors, against whom It was mainly aim
ed, but any other doctor who was not
able to speak English, no matter what
his professional qualifications and
standing might be. But, of course, il
there is no such rule if there are no
rules at all excepting such rules as the
board may happen to think of and
enforce from time to time, the status
of the whole matter changes. Incl
dentally, perhaps it is time that there
were rules, sane rules, and that the
Pesident of the Board of Health was
advised of them. Because there is rea-
son to believe that he did not know
there We're no written rules of the Board
of Examiners.
The President of the Board of Health
Is after japanese who are practicing
medicine without authorization, and all
good citizens will hope that he catches
them. But, when be does catch them,
perhaps the Board of Medical Examin-
ers may be induced to think up a rule
that will give the men who are caught
a chance to prove whether they are en-
titled to practice medicine, leaving their
linguistic Accomplishments aside for the
time. Because, really, it does not mat
ter what language a doctor speaks, so
long as he can speak yours.
Incidentally to this whole subject, the
Hawaiian Medical Association has
taken action, appointing Drs. Judd,
wayson and Cooper a committee to
consider the problem of examining ap-
plicants for license to practice medi-
cine So it will be seen that the taking
up of the matter by the high authorl-
ties has borne early fruit.