The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1916-08-10
is FIXED BY THE STATUTES
IN FLORIDA
State Board OF Health Has Original
Jurisdiction Anywhere in the
State Over Only Three
Diseases

Who is responsible authority il
health matters in Florida? Th'
functional relations of the State
Board of Health and of other au
thorities are clearly defined IN tn
statute books, but like the Tel
Commandments, these matter1
get mixed without an oeeasiona
refreshing Of memory
The law that established tn,
State Board of Health and defined
its duties, gave it original juris
diction anywhere in the yStatt
over three diseases cholera, vel
low fever and smallpox. Under
this law it has the right it is it:
duty-to assume control in the e
vent of an epidemic or of sporad-
ic cases of these ailments and in
their management its authority is
superior to that of city or county
boards or of local physicians.
In the occurrence of any other
diseases, whether in epidemic
prevalence or in individual cases,
its duty is entirely advisory and
it may assume supreme authority
only when the situation has gone
beyond the control of local health
authorities.
The question has been revived
by the present menace of infantile
paralysis against which the most
careful supervision on travel has
been established by the State
Health authorities at every point
and port of. entry from northern
infected districts. Many inquiries
from many parts of the State have
come to the State Health Officer,
asking for instructions in the pos
.sible emergency of the appearance
of the disease in Florida city or
town. And under the existing law
of the state, the health officer is
limited only to giving advice for
certain communicable diseases.
The responsibility for action,
prompt and correct, rests and
must rest, upon local health au-
thorities and physicians.
The record of the State Board
for almost twenty-eight years
since it was established in 1889
has proved its willingness, its de-
sire, to act and advise for the good
of all Floridians and even to
stretch the rigid Interpretation of
law where it may seem to be for
the general welfare, but it has al
ways avoided any overstepping of
the bounds of its legal jurisdic-
tiOn on an interference with the
Authorities of city health boards.
Excepting in the three diseases al
ready named, its functions arc en-
tirely advisory ard educational.
Whether this limitation of its
duties is wise or conduces to it's
widest usefulness, is a matter of
more or less speculation. Any en-
largement of its functions, by Civ
ing it original jurisdiction and au-
thority in the occurrence of other
diseases, can be accomplished only
by a change of the law of the
state, and such change may be
made by the wish or demand of
the people of Florida.
The present fight against the in
vaSion of Florida by iRfantile par
alysis is being made by the local
health authorities in the various
cities through which such inva-
sion would come. As the plague
rages with increasing severity i'm
New York, Florida presents a sol
id front against the menace, and
summer travel from New
York by rail and water direct in
10 Florida, probably has never
been greater than during the pres
cnt season, not a single case of the
infection, so far as is known at
the present writing, has passed
within the bounds of the state
from the infected areas to the
north of US.
If the season shall pass without
such invasion, it will be a tribute
to the faithful watchfulness, the
untiring efficiency and the skill of
the local boards of health, and of
the physicians and nurses on
whom the actual responsibility
rests.-State Board of Health.