The Washington herald., 1906-11-19
District Well Protected from
Illegal Practice.
LAWS HERE EASILY ENFORCED
Health Oficer woodward Tells Of
Prosecutions that Have Been Made.
Special Police Keep Watch 10 Pre-
vent VfOIatiOns-New Law May
Help Materially in AboIishins Evil.

/
Ger Woodward, in speaking yesterday Of
the formation Of the Public Health
! League in New York. for the purpose Of
hghting against Quack medical institutes.
There has never TO my knowledge
/ been the formation Of such a league in
/ Washington. and not what you might call
an organized crusade against auack in
+ stitutes, and spurious medicines Of this
class" he continued.
I'VE have better control Of both for
the reason that our laws regulating the
practice OF medicine are more easily en-
/ forced than the laws applying to other
cities throughout the country This is
/ due TO the fact, say, in New York, for in
stance, that physicians are licensed at a
/ central point in the State. generally the
/ capital and in this instance Albany. a
4 they have to- do when they select a place
/ for practice. is to register their license.
/ This is a State license. and they operate
under the State law. For that reason 1t
/ is difficult for the local or city police to
keep track of them.
When they are accused of malpractice
/ they are only amenable under the State
/ laws, and consequently the municipal
police do not have the practical interest
they would have under conditions exist
ing here.
In the District we can keep closer
watch. we have more compact COM
munity. and all physicians are licensed
and are amenable under the laws Of the
/ District We also have police officer
/ detailed especially to look out for and
/ prosecute violations of the pharmacy law
! This is not the case In most of the other
cities, and the State officers naturally
have a vast territory to cover
Special Law for Quacks.
In the past in dealing with deleterious
proprietary medicines we have been
/ Handicapped because they were proprie-
/ tary, that is. their formula was secret and
we could not reach them under the old
/ law II was for this reason the new
pharmacy. Law, which went into effect last
spring. was passed, and now we are OBJ
tanning much better results, Under the
provisions of this law, restriction was
placed upon the sale Of even proprietary
meiicines-the ones generally manufac-
tured and exploited by quacks for their
purposes-containing opium, cocaine, and
similar drugs
IF they hold more than a specified
quantity Of these drugs, they can be
sold only under a physicians prescription.
No, il would not be easy for a licensed
/ quack, or any other physician, TO pre-
/ scribe for such medicines for wrongful
use, although It might seem so.
Catarrh Powders DruEged.
There have also been two proseeu-
tions Of druggists for selling catarrh
/ powders containing an amount Of cocaine
in excess of that allowed by the law. It
is my opinion. however. that they were
not aware OF the fact. You can very read
iIy form the habit" from taking cocaine
in this way.
Prosecution Of cases of this character.
according to the records. date back TO the
act regulating the practice of medicine,
passed June g. 1896. IL provided for the
revocation Of a physic'-n's license for
various causes
There are several cases Of prosecutions
under the law OF June 3, 1886. one man
was charged with unprofessional and dis
honorable conduct in extOrttng money
from divers persons. II was shown that
he had sold electric belts at a fancy figure
and charged exOrbitant rates for sup
posed recharging of the electric battery.
1t was alleged that he once sold a bat
tery for slS5. This was as a special favor.
as its regular price was in the neighbOr-
hood OF 500, when il was worth s..
Many Victims FIeeced.
There are a number Of fake schemes
employed by quacks to bleed their patrons
that 1 have knowledge Of A man came
to the health Office once, who had
grudge against a quack. by whom he had
been employed, and after stating that he
knew the tricks of the trade, made af-
fidavit against his former employer.
"One method is as follows: When a
patron came into the Office he was sized
I'D, and, il he looked promising, was, in
order 10 make a perfect and thorough ex-
animation. asked TO strip before going
into the examining room. While he was
being examined a confederate would go
through his clothes on the outside and
fnd out just who ne was and any in
formation that might be obtained. An
other simple scheme Of bleeding a man
was the arrangement Of two consulting
rooms with a closet between them. When
| a prospective patient. who appeared 10
have money, came for treatment, a con-
feueFdte, stationed IN the closet, would
see and hear everything that tranSpired at
| the examination. Then when the exam
ination was over the examining physician
would give the patient a long account of
the seriousness Of his troubles and tell the
person that he did not care to undertake
| the case.
Cases Declined.
when the patient urged that he be
treated, as usually he was led 70 do, the
nhvsician who examined him in the frs,