Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-10-15
Archaic Medical Barriers

Fduure OF tQe Medical SOCleIy VI VIZ
ginia to support the Arlington and Fairfax
Medical Societies in their move for better
medical reciprocity with the District of
Columbia is hard to understand. The
action of the State wide organization In
pigeonholing reciprocity resolution is
setback for the physicians of nearby Vlr-
ginia who, with their patients, are ad-
versely affected by an outmoded State law.
The law requires ut-of-State doctors to
pay f1fty-dollar fee for license to prac-
tice in Virginia, whereas the District Is
willing to let Virginia doctors come to
Washington hospitals as often as they like
on payment of a nominal dollar fee. The
hitch, so far as Virginia is concerned, Is
that the District has threatened to impose
on doctors across the Potomac the same
sort of onerous restrictions as Virginia re-
quires-a type of reciprocity that would
hurt Virginia doctors and their patients
more than it would District doctors. For
there are far more Virginia physicians
bringing their patients to District hospitals
and clinics than there are Washington
doctors going into Virginia.
OF course, the indifference of the Medical
not mean that nearby Virginia physicians
and State legislators will give up their
effort to have the State law amended at
the next session of the General Assembly
If the State society merely refrains from
taking active part in the reciprocity drive,
the outlook for sensible modification of
the law is still good. If the organization
should decide to fight the reciprocity plan
before the Legislature, however, the pros
pect is less favorable.
Meanwhile it would be a mistake for
District authorities to use the short
sighted action of the Medical Society of
Virginia as an excuse for reinstituting
retaliatory reciprocity measures against
Virginia doctors. There is no doubt as to
the determination of the legislators from
the Northern Virginia area to seek modi-
fication of the law to pave the way for
permanent "borderlinesreciprocity agree
n1ent with the District. The Virginians
should be given a fair chance to- effect
this much-needed reform.
In letter to The Star, former Health
Officer Rutland calls for an end to all
these wholly meaningless and unnecessary
State restrictions" He referred specifically
to laws challenging the competency of
physicians licensed to practice in another
State. Il think you will agree" he said,
"that with the improvement in the quality
of medical schools, that now are all grade
A, it should be unnecessary to re-examine
a physician who transfers his practice from
one State to another. Surely the war,
during which sixty thousand physicians
from all over the country gave medical
service-and good medical servce-to more
than 100000 enlisted personnel is ample
proof that our medical men are quite COM
petent to treat people anywhere in the
United States No other nation has the
awkward arrangement that we are still
following Of insisting upon denomination
If person moves from, one section Of
the country to another It, is an archaic
and awkward practice that should be done
away with because 1t, fortunately, now
is no longer necessary"
The Star Is In wholehearted agreement
with Dr. Rutland on this question,