Evening star., 1950-10-08
Medical Men Still Mystified
BY Bogus Doctors S Smoothness
Man Without Diploma
Or License Pructiced
For About 5 Years
BY the Associoted Press


Leod, who evidently wanted tt
practice medicine more than h,
wanted to stay out of Jail.
Macleod, you remember, wa.
arrested last month at the Dobb.
Ferry hospital. where he was resi-.
dent physician. It turned out hi
didn't have license, didn't have
d medical degree, didn't even have
a high school diploma.
Now, as his full story begins tc
unfold, his career seems even more
bizarre Bizarre because he covered
50 mucn ground without harmine
anybody Because his deception
worked for almost five years. Be
cause his dollar profits were small
compared to the risk, and he
worked where the risk of detec-
tion was greatest. Because he not
only worked at medicine, he mar
ried into medical family. And
bizarre because even q previous
Jail sentence failed to repress his
compulsion to practice the healing
arts.
Worked Nine Hospitals.
In all, the 37-year-old, stocky,
self-made doctor" worked as in
terne and resident physician at
nine hospitals in New Jersey, New
York and Connecticut during the
last five years. Residents usually
specialize in one field, Macleod
specialized" in at least five.
In one hospital, he was resident
in neuro-psychiatry. In another
surgery. In another. obstetrics ano
gynecology. In still another, geri-
atrics. which is the study of ole
age.
I've never heard of anything
like it BEFORE" said a spokesman
for the New York Academy ot
Medicine. There have been quacks
who worked on the fringe OF
medicine before. But this man
went right into the hospitals and
worked in the midst of real doc
tOTS ana nurses.
There is no indication Macleod
tried to practice medicine outside
OF hospitals. but in every other
respect he tried to live the medical
life as fully as possible. He bought
many medical books. He married
a nurse. His father law is a
retired Y,hvsicjan
Held Own With Experts.
Inevitably. the family came to-
gether to talk shop, and there was
Macleod holding his own with ex-
perts. Neither wife nor father-in-
law ever suspected her husband
had no legitimate medical train
ing, Mrs. Macleod said.
Mrs. Macleod said her father
felt that Macleod showed great
promise" as a physician.
The nurses and the doctors Mac
Leod worked with in emergency
rooms. in surgery, in wards and
delivery rooms, also thought well
of him. They respected him pro-
fessionally. They found his per-
sonality engaging. At least, that's
what they told me.
Patients loved the bogus doctor.
One credited Macleod with saw
ing his life after last rites were
administered during a violent
asthmatic attack. Others said he
had a gentle, considerate bedside
manner and a good sense of
humor.
Born in Quebec.
Macleod. who is now serving a
year in the Westchester County
IN. " Penitentiary, told prison
officials he was born in 1912 in
st. Cecille, Quebec. He had five
brothers and two sisters. At an
early age he was moved with his
family from Canada to Maine.
Without being definite as to To-
cations. Macleod said that it was
in Maine he fell in love with med
icine. His idol, he said, was a
country doctor there He fire.
quently-played hockey from school
to study the doctors medical
books.
All his life, Macleod said, he
acquired medical books and read
them religiously. In this way and
with his experience in the Army
Medical Corps, he said, he picked
up his knowledge of medicine.
In 1886, he enlisted in the
Army and served until 1899. He
was assigned to the medical de-
tachment at Fort Totten, New
York, as laboratory technician.
Roof Falls In.
In 1941. Macleod rejoined the
Army. A year later, while at
tached as private to the medical
training battalion, Camp Barkley,
Tex. the roof fell in on him. He
was sentenced by court-martial to
five years Imprisonment for:
Absence without leave, breaking
arrest, impersonating his COM
manding officer (captain), illegal
possession of drugs, theft of book
valued at $13, "wrongfully and
unlawfully holding out as prac-
titioner of medicine and wrong
fully and unlawfully practicing
medicine"
(The FBI said there is no
doubt that the Macleod who
received the Army court-martial
and the Macleod who was ar
rested in Dobbs Ferry are the
same man; the fingerprints in
both cases match, the FBI
Said)
The Army didn't give up on
Macleod. In 1914 he was re-
leased from Fort Leavenworth at
a time when the military was try
ing hard to rehabilitate it's erring
children. He was returned to
active duty, again in medical work
His last Army job was medical
laboratory technician attached to
Halloran General Hospital, Staten
Island, N. Y.
Discharged From Service.
In May, 1945, Macleod was dis