Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-29

Maine, if this should become law,
who would feel that he was safe.
70 make him feel all right, the
presons that want to get married
furnish a certificate. | assume that
is in addition to the one already pro-
vide1 by law, that the parties furnish
a certificate of their nativity, their
parentage, their color, their sex, their
name, their mother and father and
the history of the family. All that
we have now In addition to all that
they furnish a Ccrtificate-in section :,
a certificate from Il phNsician-not an
estcopath. DR.. Patten, but one of the
duly registered and residing in the
state. And that certificate must set
forth that he has made an e%anana-
ton IF the young man and the young
woman. a physical examination, ana
a pretty thorough one under this law
no aetting around that-and III add
ton TO that he has to examine the
mind.
Now while we have in the Senate
some az able physicians as We nave
in the State they are not mind spec
talists, and | submit to the genial doc
tor from Hancock. DIR. Patten, If one
Of these tovs and girls that want II
maryland their parents rs far as
they are concerned are willing, they
have a proper certificate from the
town clerk Of their age, parentage and
everything else-they go to Dir. Pat
ten for examination, if he would feel,
with all his skill at the present time,
that he cauld minister to the mind
diseased as Shakespeare SAYS
that
very few doctors in the State possess,
What are they going to do When
YOU go TO your country doctor to get
a certificate to get married a5out
your mind, why he has got TO say
/ Consult a specialist" and they have
cot To come down here to the insane
asylum, or TO Portland, or Boston, or
somewhere, if they cam presume
4 they can't so out of the state Tor
| that-and get q certificate from some
mind specialist that their mind Is all
right.
/ And | fear. Mr. President. if we
| should pass this bill through the Sen
! ate, that there is no senator here VINO
| hes 4 daughter at manageable age
| that she ever could get married.
! Whye by the mere passage OF the BIT
+ through the Senate. if you Should
/ vote for it. If you have a daughter
! why you look how It reads here-=.'or
| person who has heretofore been al
aicted with hereditary insanity he
! reditary insanity-why, woutdn
! you say that if a member of TINS
Senate has daughter of marriaSea-
| bic age, and Won pass this bill. thai
that child couldn't get married be-
cause she is afflicted with hereditary
insanity Uaughter)
| And then there is a fine. Why TINS
! physician that does his best and
! makes Ia mistake because OF some
hereditary insanity he didn't catch or
| to. something in this mind that looked
all right but he didn't see il, lots OF
people afflicted with mind disease de-
ceive you'll don't suppose phNsl-
clan examining knows everybody that
| comes 10 him, about their family his
| tery-but # ne should make mis-
take. be a little careless about the
examination, why he shall be pun
ished by fine not exceeding $500 or
by imprisonment not exceeding one
| year
In addition thereto he forfeits his
| 1lSilt 10 DIdClltt ilGoiOiiit III eiie NCNt'N
| and is put on the same footing as an
| osteopath. Gaughter)
| Mr. President, in behalf of the doc
| tors in the Senate, whom | respect
and admire, to protect them from a
greater injury than can possibly come
from organizing osteopaths. move
| this bill be indefinitely postponed.
| Mr.. MOREY of Androscoggin: Mr..
| President, ] think perhaps the matter
of the bill was not fully considered
the other day when the Senate voted
upon it. 1t takes but a reading of
| the bill to see that it is very objec-
| ttonable in many ways; that if this
bill were enacted and became a law
of the State and were followed, it
| would be a very complicated piece of
machinery which would not, ! believe,
result in any direct good to the State
The senator from Aroostook has de-
scribed the heavy burdens imposed
upon the physician in arriving at
I diagnosis of the case And then If he
| should decide for any reason that the
marriage should not take place, the
! party aggrieved on examination could
appeal to the medical examiner of the
| county where such person resides or
| is commorant.
Directly after the doctor, for in
stance, passes upon mind diseases;
ana we know without any reflection
on the physicians here, that when
case comes into court the ordinary
physician is not accepted as an eX-
pert in mind matters, and ] question
if he could qualify under the proVi-
sians Of this act in the detection of
mental diseases.
ANY party examined by said ply
stefan who is aggrieved by his finding
NAV appeal to the county medical eX
aminer of the county where such per-
son resides or is commorant. If the
decision of said medical examiner is
against said person, an appeal may be
taken to the supreme judicial court
by q petition stating the facts, which
shall be served upon the said medical
examiner fourteen days before the
same can be entered in court and
hearing demanded.
Now you think of the three tribu
nails to go through-where now it is a
simple matter, a system that has been