PORTO RICO

LAWS 1903.

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF A BOARD OF MEDICAL

EXAMINERS.

Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico.

SEC. 1.-The governor, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, shall appoint five learned, skilled and capable physicians, who shall have been residents of the Island of Porto Rico for not less than five years preceding their appointment who shall constitute the Board of Examiners for the purpose of this Act.

SEC. 2.-.

The Board of Examiners shall hold meetings for examinations at the seat of government on the first Tuesday of April and October of each year, and at such other times and at the same and other places as the Board may determine.

SEC. 3.-Every person hereinafter wishing to practice medicine or surgery, or any of the branches thereof or midwifery of any of their departments in this Island, shall apply to the said Board for a certificate. or license so to do. Applications from said candidates shall be in writing and accompanied by proof that the applicant is a graduate of a medical school or institution in good standing and legally organized, and duly approved by the said Board of Examiners; if the diploma is found genuine, which fact the said Board of Examiners shall determine, and if the person presenting and claiming said diplama be the person to whom the same was originally granted, at a time and place designated by said Board, or at a regular meeting of said Board, said applicant shall be required to take an examination embracing those general subjects and topics, a knowledge of which is commonly and generally required or candidates for the degree of doctor of medicine by respectable medical colleges in the United States. The examination of those who desire to practice midwifery or any of the branches of medicine and surgery, shall be of such character as to determine the qualifications of the applicants to practice them. All examinations provided for in this act shall be conducted under rules and regulations prescribed by the Board, which shall provide for a fair and wholly impartial method of examination. After examination, such Board shall, if the candidate has been found qualified, grant a certificate or license to such candidate to practice medicine and surgery or any of the branches thereof or midwifery in Porto Rico; which said certificate can only be granted by the consent of not less than three members of said board, and which

said certificate shall be signed by the President and Secretary of said Board and attested by the seal thereof; provided, however, that all physicians and surgeons, who hold certificates granted by the now existing Board of Medical Examiners shall be exempt from the provisions of this section.

SEC. 4.-The Board may refuse to grant a certificate on account of unprofessional, dishonorable or immoral conduct. Before a certificate can be refused for such cause, the Board shall serve in writing upon the applicant a copy of any charge or charges against him, and appoint a day for hearing, at which the applicant or any witness in his behalf may appear and give testimony in refutation of such charges.

SEC. 5.-Every person obtaining a certificate from the Board, must within sixty days from the date thereof, have the same recorded in the office of the Secretary of Porto Rico and in the office of the Superior Board of Health. The Secretary of Porto Rico and the President of the Superior Board of Health shall endorse upon the certificate the date of record, and charge and receive the usual fees for such services, the fees to be paid by the applicant.

SEC. 6.-Applicants who possess diplomas from reputable medical colleges, and who may have been licensed by State Boards, may upon the payment of a fee of twenty-five (25) dollars, be licensed by the Board of Examiners without examination if the said Board of Examiners so decides. Medical Officers serving in the Army and Navy of the United States or in the United States Marine hospital service, are exempt from examination, but are required to be registered by the Superior Board of Health and to pay a fee of five dollars.

SEC. 7.-Any person practicing medicine or surgery or any other branches thereof or midwifery within the Island contrary to the provisions of this act, shall, for each violation of the provisions of this act, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars nor less than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than ninety days nor less than thirty days or by both said fine and imprisonment, as the court may determine. Any person shall be regarded as practicing within the meaning of this act who shall append the letters M. D. (for Medical Doctor) to his or her name, who shall profess publicly to be a physician or surgeon, or who shall recommend, prescribe or direct for the use of any person, any drug, medicine, appliance, apparatus or other agency, whether material or not material, for the cure, relief, or palliation of any ailment or disease of the mind or body or for the cure or relief of any wound, fracture, or bodily injury, or other deformity, after having received or with the intent of receiving therefor, either directly or indirectly, any bonus, gift or compensation.

SEC. 8. The fees for examination and for a certificate shall be as follows: ten dollars for an examination in medicine and surgery, and five dollars for a certificate if issued, for all other practitioners five dollars for an examination and five dollars for a certificate if issued.

For an examination in a certificate if issued.

midwifery five dollars, and three dollars for All fees shall be paid in advance to the Treasurer of the Board of Medical Examiners, which fees shall defray the entire expenses of said candidate for examination before the said Board of Examiners.

Any one failing to pass the required examination shall be entitled to a second examination within six months without fee. And the moneys so received shall be turned over to the Treasurer of Porto Rico by the Treasurer of said Board, to be by him deposited in the Medical Board Fund, as hereinafter provided.

RHODE ISLAND

RHODE ISLAND MEDICAL LICENSE LAW. CHAPTER 165 OF THE GENERAL LAWS. (AS AMENDED NOVEMBER, 1901.) OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.

SECTION 1.-It shall be the duty of each town and city clerk to purchase a book of suitable size, to be known as the "medical register" of each city or town, and to set apart one full page for the registration of each physician; and when any physician shall die or remove from the city or town, said clerk shall make a note of the same at the bottom of the page, and shall on the first day of January in each year transmit to the office of the state board of health a duly-certified list of the physicians of said city or town registered under this chapter, together with such other information as is hereinafter required, and perform such other duties as are required by this chapter; and such clerk shall receive the sum of fifty cents from each physician so registered, which shall be his full compensation for all the duties required under this chapter.

SEC. 2.-It shall be unlawful for any person to practice medicine or surgery in any of its branches, within the limits of this state, who has not exhibited and registered, in the city or town clerk's office of the city or town in which he or she resides, his or her authority for so practicing medicine as herein prescribed, together with his or her age, address, place of birth and the school or system of medicine to which he or she proposes to belong; and the person so registering shall subscribe and verify by oath, before such clerk, an affidavit concerning such facts, which, if wilfully false shall subject the affiant to conviction and punishment for perjury.

SEC. 3.-Authority to practice medicine under this chapter shall be a certificate from the state board of health, and said board shall, upon application, after examination, issue a certificate to any reputable physician who intends to practice medicine or surgery in this state and who shall present himself before the state board of health and pass in a satisfactory manner such examination as said board may require. Any physician so representing himself shall pay to said board the sum of ten dollars ($10) for each examination, and said fee shall in no case be returned, but shall be applied to pay the expenses of said board of health in conducting such examinations. Each certificate so issued shall be signed by the president and countersigned by the secretary of said board and shall be attested by the official seal, and not more than two dollars ($2) shall be charged for a certificate.

SEC. 4.-Nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to author

ize any itinerant doctor to register or to practice medicine in any part of this state.

SEC. 6. Nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to discriminate against any particular school or system of medicine, or to prohibit gratuitous services in case of emergency; nor shall this chapter apply to commissioned surgeons of the United States army, navy, or marine hospital service, or to legally qualified physicians of another state, called to see a particular case, in consultation with a registered physician of this state, but who do not open an office or appoint a place in this state where they may meet patients or receive calls.

SEC. 8. Any person who, not being then lawfully authorized to practice medicine within this state, and so registered according to law, shall practice medicine or surgery or attempt to practice medicine or surgery, or any of the branches of medicine or surgery, after having received therefor or with the intent of receiving therefor, either directly or indirectly, any bonus, gift, or compensation, or who shall open an office with intent to practice medicine or shall hold himself out to the public as a practitioner of medicine, whether by appending to his name. the title of doctor or any abbreviation thereof, or M. D., or any other title or designation implying a practitioner of medicine, or in any other way, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined fifty dollars, and upon each and every subsequent conviction shall be fined one hundred dollars and imprisoned thirty days, either or both, in the discretion of the court; and in no case when any provision of this chapter has been violated shall the person so violating such provision be entitled to receive compensation for services rendered.

INSTRUCTIONS.

APPLICATION FORMS MAY BE OBTAINED BY ADDRESSING THE SECRETARY OF THE BOARD.

1. Applicant must fill out in his or her own hand-writing the numbered blanks of the form, and the application must be in the hands of the Secretary of the State Board of Health at Providence at least 14 days before examination.

2. The fee of ten dollars, prescribed by law, must accompany the application. Unless paid in person the fee should be transmitted by postal money order, draft, or check, and made payable to the Secretary of the State Board of Health. No responsibility will be assumed for fees transmitted by mail in any other form. This fee, as provided in the act, "shall in no case be returned." The fee for certificate when issued is two dollars.

3. If the applicant has a literary, or scientific, or medical degree, the diploma should be presented at the time of the examination.