The San Francisco call., 1910-10-01
F FAKIRS OF
SURGERY
DOOMED
District Attorney Plans to Draft
New PrOhibitive City
Ordinance
PRESENT STATUTES OF
STATE INTELLECTUAL
Voices of Physicians Swell a
Mighty Protest Against
Girls Murder
SECOND INDICTMENT Is
FOUND AGAINST DOCTOR"

0ONSCIOUS that the state laws
which prohibit the practice of
medicine without license are
ineffective against a large number of
malpractitioners who are at the pres
ent time fiourishing in this city, Dis
trict Attorney Charles NJ. Fickert has
undertaken the task of framing a city
ordinance which will, it is intended, be
decisive blow at the men and women
who fiagrantly advertise their illegal
business to the community. His action
comes as the direct result of a number
of appeals from members of the medi-
cal fraternity and established licensed
practitioners who regard the Eva Swan
murder as a reflection on their pro-
fession.
Grand Jury Aids
Fickert has also given ear to the
members of the grand jury. a number
of whom feel that there should be
some way of eliminating the men who
masquerade as graduate physicians
and surgeons. when, as a matter Of
fact, they have never attended a medi-
cal college and are incompetent to
take care of patient in the event Of
danger
There are over IS Offices in San
Francisco at the present time under
the ban of the postal authorities, five
of which are operated by men who
hold physicians licenses. The ns-
ture of their business is easily ascer-
tanned and their own advertising, cir
culated through the city by distribu-
ters, places them within the pale OF
section II of the state act regulating
the practice of medicine This act has
been on the books for over seven
years. yet in the history of the city
there has never been a prosecution
under it. 1t is as follows:
The State Law
Section 12-IlIe&aI praetfee-Aay
person practicing medicine or sur
gerry in this state, without having
at the time of so praeticing a valid,
unrevOked certificate as provided in
this act, shall be deemed guilty of
miSdemeanOr, and upon eOnvic-
tlOn thereof shall be punished by
fine of not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than ive hundred
dollars, or by Imprisonment for
term of not less than sixty days nor
more than one hundred and eighty
days, or by both such fine and I'M
prisOnment. In each such cOnvic-
tiOn one half of the fine shall be
paid, when collected, TO the prose-
cutting witness or witnesses, and .
the other half be paid into the
school fund of the county or city
and county in which such cOnVie-
tiOn is had.
Prosecutors Power
To place the power in the hands of
the district attorney, part ? of section
132 of the general laws OF the state. re-
Iating to the duties OF the district at
torney, is as follows:
The district attorney Is the public
prosecutor and must institute pro-
eeedings before the magistrates for
the arrest of persons charged with
or reasonably suspected of public
Offenses, when he has information
that any such Offenses have been
committed.
1t is now declared that city ordi-
nance will be more to the purpose, and
that with specific legislation by the
county board of supervisors. aimed
directly at malpractitioners. the danger
of a repetition of the Eva swan case
may be eliminated.