STATUTES 
REGULATING THE 
MMIKE m JHfHC III OTMItl, 
IN THE 
STATE OP NEW YORK; . ' 
AND THE 
BY-LAWS AND ETHICS 
, OF THE 
v 
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE COUNTY OF KINGS. 
REVISED AND ADOPTED AUGUST 10, 1858. 
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY. 
BROOKLYN: 
T. VAN ANDEN’S STEAM POWER PRESSES, 30 & 82 FULTON STREET. 
1 8 5 8. STATUTES. 
[The first Act regulating the practice of Physic and Surgery in the 
State of New York was passed by the Colonial Legislature on the 
10th June, 1760 ; amended March 27th, 1792 ; and was restricted in 
its provisions to the City of New York. On the 23d March, 1797, 
the first law regulating the practice throughout the State was passed, 
and that of 1760 and 1792 repealed. April 4th, 1801, this Act was 
revised, amended and passed; and farther amended March 22d, 
1803. On the 4th April 1806, an Act establishing County Medical 
Societies and a State Medical Society was passed, and these former 
Acts repealed. This, with its amendments, has been incorporated in 
this Act of April 10th, 1813.] Com. Med. Soc., Co. Kings. 
AN 1ST ACT' 
✓ 
TO IN CORPORATE MEDICAL SOCIETIES, 
FOE THE PURPOSE OF REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF PHYSIO AND 
SURGERY IN THIS STATE. 
Passed April 10,1813. 
Whereas, well-regulated Medical Societies have been found to 
contribute to the diffusion of true science, and particularly the 
knowledge of the healing art:—Therefore, 
§ 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, repre- 
sented in Senate and Assembly, That it shall and may be lawful for 
the Physicians and Surgeons in the several counties of this State, now 
authorized by law to practice in their several professions, except in 
those counties wherein Medical Societies have been already incorpo- 
rated, to meet together on the first Tuesday of July next, at the 
place where the last Term of the Court of Common Pleas, next pre- 
vious to such meeting, was held in their respective counties; and the 
several Physicians and Surgeons so convened as aforesaid, or any 
part of them, being not less than five in number, shall proceed to 
the choice of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, 
who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others shall be 4 
STATUTES. 
chosen in their places ; and whenever the said Societies, shall he so 
organized as aforesaid, they are hereby declared to he bodies corpo- 
rate and politic, in fact and in name, by the names of the Medical 
Society of the county where such Societies shall respectively he 
formed; and by that name shall be in law capable of suing and being 
sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being answered 
unto, defending and being defended, in all courts and places, and in 
all matters and causes whatsoever; and shall and may have a com- 
mon seal, and may alter and renew the same at their pleasure : 
Provided ahcays, That if the said Physicians and Surgeons shall not 
meet and organize themselves at such time and place as aforesaid, it 
shall be lawful for them to meet at such other time as a majority of 
them shall think proper, and their proceedings shall be as valid as if 
such meeting had been at the time before specified. 
§ 2. And be it further enacted, That the Medical Societies, of 
counties already incorporated, shall continue to be bodies corporate 
and politic, in fact and in name, by the names of the Medical Society 
of the county where such Societies have respectively been formed, 
and by that name be in law capable of suing and being sued, pleading 
and being impleaded, answering and being answered unto, defending 
and being defended, in all courts and places, and in all matters and 
causes whatsoever; and shall and may have a common seal, and 
may alter and renew the same at their pleasure; and the President, 
Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, of such incorporated Socie- 
ties, shall hold their offices for one year, and until others shall be 
chosen in their places. 
§ 3. And be it further enacted, That the Medical Society already 
incorporated by the style and name of the “ Medical Society of 
the State of Mew York,” shall continue to be a body politic and 
corporate, in fact and in name, and by that name shall be in law 
capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, 
answering and being answered unto, defending and being defended, 
in all courts and places, and in all matters and causes whatsoever; 
and shall and may have and use a common seal, and may change and 
alter the same at their pleasure ; and that the said Society shall be 
composed of one member from each of the County Societies in the 
State, elected by ballot at their annual meeting, who shall meet 
together at the time and place appointed by the said Society, for 
that purpose; and being met, not less than fifteen in number, may 
annually elect by ballot a President, Vice-President, Secretary and 
Treasurer, who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others 
shall be chosen in their places, 5 
STATUTES. 
§ 4. And be it further enacted, That the Medical Society of the 
State of New York, and also the Medical Societies of the respective 
counties, shall and may agree upon and determine the times and 
places of their meeting ; and the time so agreed upon shall, forever 
thereafter, be the anniversary day of holding their respective meet- 
ings ; and it is hereby made the duty of the Secretary of each of the 
County Medical Societies to lodge in the office of the Clerk of their 
respective counties, if not already done, a copy of all the proceed- 
ings had at their first meeting ; and it shall also be the duty of the 
Secretary of the Medical Society of the State of New York, in like 
manner, to lodge in the office of the Secretary of this State, a copy 
of their.proceedings had at their first general meeting; and the said 
Clerks and Secretary are hereby required to file the same in their 
respective offices, for Avliich they shall each receive the sum ot 
twelve and a half cents. 
§ 5. And be it further enacted, That the members now com- 
posing the Medical Society of the State of New York, from each 
of the four great districts, shall remain divided into four classes; 
and one class from each of said districts shall go out of office 
annually. 
§ 0. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the 
Secretary of the Medical Society of the State of New York, when- 
ever the seats of any of the members shall become vacant, to give 
information of the same to the respective County Societies, to the 
end that such County Societies may supply such vacancy at their 
next meeting. 
§ 7. And be it further enacted, That in case there shall be an 
addition to the number of members composing the Medical Society 
of the State, that in that case it shall be in the power of the said 
Society at any of their annual meetings, and as often as they shall 
judge necessary, to alter and vary the classes in such manner, as that 
one-fourth of the members from each of the great districts, as near 
as may be, shall annually go out of office. 
§ 8. And be it further enacted, That if the seat of any member 
of the Medical Society of the State of New York shall be vacated, 
either by death, resignation, or removal from the county, it shall be 
the duty of the Medical Society of such county to fill such vacancy 
at their next meeting after such vacancy shall happen. 
§ 9. And be it further enacted, That the Medical Societies 
established as aforesaid, are hereby respectively empowered to 
examine all students who shall and may present themselves for that 6 
STATUTES. 
purpose, au<l to give diplomas under the hand of the President and 
seal of such Society before whom such students shall he examined; 
which diploma shall be sufficient to empower the person so obtain- 
ing the same, to practice physic or surgery, or both, as shall he set 
forth in said diploma, in any part of this State. 
§ 10. And be it further enacted, That if any student who shall 
have presented himself for examination before any of the Medical 
Societies of the several counties of this State, shall think himself 
aggrieved by the decision of such Society, it shall be lawful for such 
student to present himself for examination to the Medical Society of 
the State of Mew York; and if, in the opinion of such Society, the 
student so applying is well qualified for the practice of physic or 
surgery, or both, as the case may he, the President of said Society 
shall, under his hand and the seal of such Society, give to the said 
applicant a diploma agreeable to such decision. 
§11. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful 
for the several Medical Societies so established as aforesaid, at their 
annual meetings, to appoint not less than three, nor more than five, 
Censors, to continue in office for one year, and until others are 
chosen, whose duty it shall be carefully and impartially to examine 
all students who shall present themselves for that purpose, and 
report their opinion, in writing, to the President of the said Society. 
§ 12. And be it further enacted, That no person shall commence 
the practice of physic or surgery within any of the counties of 
this State, until he shall have passed an examination, and received a 
diploma from one of the Medical Societies to be established as 
aforesaid; and if any person shall so practice without having ob- 
tained a diploma for that purpose, he shall forever thereafter be 
disqualified from collecting any debt or debts incurred by such 
practice, in any court of this State. [Repealed. See § 16, 17 Rev. 
Statutes.] 
§ 13. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful 
for the Medical Societies of the respective counties in this State, and 
also the Medical Society of the State of Mew York, to purchase and 
hold any estate, real and personal, for the use of said respective 
Societies : Provided, such estate, as well real as personal, which the 
County Societies are hereby respectively authorized to hold, shall 
not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars ; and that the estate, as 
well real as personal, which the Medical Society of the State of Mew 
York is hereby authorized to hold, shall not exceed five thousand 
dollars. 7 
STATUTES. 
§ 14. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the 
respective Societies to make such By-Laws and regulations relative 
to the affairs, concerns, and property of said Societies; relative to 
the admission and expulsion of members; relative to such donations 
or contributions as they, or a majority of the members, at their 
annual meeting, shall think fit and proper: Provided, That such 
By-Laws, rules and regulations, made by the Society of the State 
of New York, be not contrary to, nor inconsistent with, the Consti- 
tution and laws of this State, or of the United States ; and that the 
By-Laws, rules, and regulations, of the respective County Societies, 
shall not be repugnant to the By-Laws, rules, and regulations, of the 
Medical Society of the State of New York, nor contrary to, or 
inconsistent with, the Constitution and laws of this State, or of the 
United States. 
§ 15. And be it further enacted, That the Treasurer of each 
Society established as aforesaid, shall receive and be accountable for 
all moneys that shall come into his hands by virtue of any of the 
By-Laws of such Societies, and also for all moneys that shall come 
into the hands of the President thereof, for the admission of members, 
or licensing of students ; which moneys the said President is hereby 
required to pay over to the said Treasurer, who shall account there- 
for to the Society, at their annual meetings; and no moneys shall be 
drawn from the Treasurer, unless such sums, and for such pur- 
poses, as shall be agreed upon by a majority of the Society, at their 
annual meeting, and by a warrant for that purpose, signed by the 
President. 
§ 16. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the 
Secretary of each of the said Medical Societies to provide a book, in 
which he shall make an entry of all the resolutions and proceedings 
which may be had from time to time, and also the name of each and 
every member of said Society, and the time of his admission, and 
also the annual reports relative to the state of the Treasury, and all 
such other things as a majority of the Society shall think proper; to 
which book any member of the Society may, at any time, have 
recourse; and the same, together with all books, papers, and 
records, which may be in the hands of the Secretary, and be the 
property of the Society, shall be delivered to his successor in 
office. 
§ 17. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for each 
of the said Medical Societies to cause to be raised and collected 
from each of the members of such Society, a sum not exceeding 
three dollars in any one year, for the purpose of procuring a medical 8 
STATUTES. 
library, and apparatus, and for the encouragement of useful discov- 
eries in chemistry, botany, and such other improvements as the ma- 
jority of the Society shall think proper. [Amended by Act, 1819.] 
§ 18. And be it further enacted, That any student who may 
receive a diploma from the Medical Society of this State, shall pay 
to the President thereof, on receiving the same, ten dollars ; and for 
each diploma that a student may receive from the Medical Society 
of any county, he shall pay to the President thereof, on receiving 
the same, five dollars : Provided, That the students who have 
been examined previous to the twenty-sixth day of May, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and twelve, and were entitled to receive diplomas, 
but who have not received the same, shall not pay therefor more 
than twro dollars. 
§ 19. And be it further enacted, That the Medical Society of this 
State, may elect, by ballot, at their annual meetings, eminent and 
respectable physicians and surgeons, residing in any part of this 
state; which persons so elected, shall be permanent members of the 
society, and entitled to all the privileges of the same: Provided, That 
not more than two such members shall be elected in any one year, 
and that they receive no compensation for their attendance from the 
funds of the society. [By an Act passed in 1845, the society was 
authorized to elect annually, not more than two permanent members, 
from each Senatorial district of this State.] 
§ 20. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall practice 
physic and surgery, without being regularly licensed, shall forfeit 
and pay twenty-five dollars for each offence of which he may be duly 
convicted, to be recovered with costs of suit, before any Justice of 
the Peace of the county Avhex-e such penalty shall be incurred, by any 
person who will prosecute for the same; and the Justice before 
whom such conviction may be had, shall pay the same to the overseers 
of the poor of such town where such conviction shall be had, for the 
use of the poor thereof, whose duty it shall be to prosecute for the 
same: Provided, The person so practising without license, who shall 
not receive any fee or reward for the same, shall be exempt from the 
penalty of this act: And provided also, That nothing in this act 
contained, shall be construed to extend to debar any person from 
using or applying for the benefit of any sick person, any roots, barks, 
or herbs, the growth and produce of the United States. [Repealed 
by act of 1844.] 
§ 21. And be it further enacted, That all persons who may be 
hereafter licensed to practice physic and surgery, shall deposite 
a copy of such license with the Clerk of the county in which STATUTES. 
9 
sucli practitioner may reside; and until such license shall he so 
deposited, those practitioners who may neglect the same, shall 
he liable to the penalty of this act, in the same manner as if they 
had no such license; and it shall he the duty of the Clerk to file 
such license in his office, for each of which he shall receive twelve 
and a half cents and no more, from the practitioner who may deposite 
the same. 
§ 22. And be it f urther enacted, That nothing in this act contained, 
shall be construed to prevent any person coming from any other 
state or country, from practising physic or surgery within this state, 
such person being duly authorized to practice by the laivs of such 
state or country, and having a diploma from a regular Medical 
Society: Provided, however, That none of the societies established 
as aforesaid, shall proceed to the examination of any student, in 
order to license him for the practice, until such student shall have 
produced satisfactory testimony that he has regularly studied physic 
or surgery, or both, as the case may be, with one or more 
reputable practitioner or practitioners, for the term of three years. 
[Amended by act of 1848.] 
§ 23. And be it farther enacted, That it shall be in the power of 
the legislature to alter, or modify, or repeal this act, whenever they 
shall deem it necessary or expedient. 
§ 24. And be it further enacted, That if there should not be a 
sufficient number of physicians and surgeons in any of the counties 
in this state, to form themselves into a Medical Society, agreeably to 
this act, it shall he lawful for such physicians and surgeons to 
associate with the physicians and surgeons of an adjoining county, 
for the purposes hereby contemplated. 
§ 25. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be, and hereby 
is declared to be, a Public Act. 
(a true copy.) 
Compared with the original in toe office of the 
Secretary of this State, this 25th June, 1813. 
JAS. YAM IMGEM. 10 
STATUTES. 
_A_ UST .A. C T 
TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED UAN ACT TO INCORPORATE MEDICAL 
SOCIETIES, FOR TIIE PURPOSE OF REGULATING THE PRACTICE 
OF pnYSIC AND SURGERY IN TniS STATE.” 
Passed April 20, ISIS. 
§ 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New-TorTc, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, That no person shall after the 
first day of May, 1821, be admitted to an examination as a candidate 
for the practice of physic and surgery, in this State, unless he shall 
have previously studied medical science four years, after the 
age of sixteen, with a regular physician and surgeon; hut any 
portion of time not exceeding one year, during which, any person, 
after the age of sixteen, shall have pursued any of the studies pur- 
sued in either of the colleges in this state, shall be excepted in 
lieu of an equal portion of time of the study of medical science; and 
if any person shall have attended one or more complete courses 
of medical lectures, delivered by each of the professors, on all 
branches of medical science, in either of the medical colleges or 
institutions in this state, or elsewhere, the same shall be accepted in 
lieu of one year spent in the study of medical science as aforesaid ; 
and the person with whom the student shall commence his studies, 
shall file a certificate with the President of the Board to which 
he belongs, certifying that the person has commenced his studies 
with him, and the day of filing such certificate shall be the com- 
mencement of such term of study; and if the term of study shall be 
intended to be for less than four years, by reason that the person 
has pursued the studies pursued in colleges as aforesaid, or that he 
hath attended lectures as aforesaid, then on application to the 
said president, he shall, on examining the matter, make an order 
annexed to the certificate aforesaid, purporting that it hath satisfac- 
torily appeared to him that the person hath pursued the studies pur- 
sued in colleges as aforesaid, or that he hath attended one or more 
courses of lectures as aforesaid after he was sixteen years of age, 
for such a period of time not exceeding one year as shall be specified 
in the order, and thereupon order that the term of study in such 
case may be for a time which shall remain after deducting from four 
years the time so specified in the order : Provided always, That no 
person shall be licensed to practice physic and surgery until he shall 
be of the age of twenty-one years. STATUTES. 
11 
§ 2. And he it farther enacted, That each and every student of 
medicine who shall present himself to the censors of either of the 
County Medical Societies of the State, for examination, and be found 
disqualified for the practice of physic and surgery, or either of them, 
shall not he allowed the privilege of an examination before the 
censors of any other County Medical Society; hut shall, in all cases 
Avhero he thinks himself aggrieved, have a right to appeal to the 
censors of the State Medical Society; and that any license obtained 
contrary to the provisions of this act, shall he void. 
§ 3. Aful he it further enacted, That the State Medical Society 
shall annually elect not more than twelve, nor less than six censors, 
any three of whom shall he a quorum for the examination of 
students. 
§ 4. And he it farther enacted, That no physician or surgeon 
from any other state or country, shall be admitted to practice in this 
state, until he shall have filed a copy of his diploma from some 
college of medicine or legally incorporated Medical Society, with the 
Clerk of the county in which he may reside, agreeably to the 
twenty-first section of the act hereby amended, nor until he shall 
have exhibited to the Medical Society of the county where he resides, 
satisfactory evidence that he lias regularly studied physic and 
surgery, agreeably to the requisitions contained in the first section of 
this act. [Amended by act of 1841. See § 17 from Eevised Statutes.] 
§5. And he it further enacted, That in those counties where the 
anniversary meetings of any County Medical Society shall occur on 
the same day on which the Court of Common Pleas shall meet, 
it shall be lawful for such society to alter the time of their anniver- 
sary meeting, to such a day as a majority of the said society present 
may think proper. 
§ 6. And he it further enacted, That each of the colleges of 
medicine in this state, may elect a delegate to represent their 
colleges respectively in the Medical Society of the State, who shall 
be entitled to all the privileges and subject to the same regulations 
as the delegates from the County Medical Societies. 
§ 7. And he it farther enacted, That hereafter it shall be the duty 
of every practitioner of medicine in this state, to report himself to, 
and connect himself with, the Medical Society in the county where 
he resides, by lodging with the president of such society, a certificate 
under his hand to that effect. 12 
STATUTES. 
A.N ACT 
FURTHER TO AMEND “ AN ACT TO INCORPORATE MEDICAL SOCIETIES, 
FOR TIIE PURPOSE OF REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF PnYSIC 
AND SURGERY IN THIS STATE.” 
« 
Passed April 13,1819. 
§ 1. Be it enacted by the People of the Stale of New York, 
represented in Senate and Assembly, That it shall and may be law- 
ful for each Medical Society in this State to cause to be raised and 
collected from each practising physician or surgeon residing in the 
county or counties where such Society is by law established, a sum 
not exceeding one dollar in any one year; which sum, when collect- 
ed, shall be part of the fund of said Society, to he applied as directed 
by the 17th section of the Act entitled “ An Act to incorporate 
Medical Societies for the purpose of regulating the practice of Physic 
and Surgery in this State,” passed April 10, 1813. 
§ 2. And be it further enacted, That no college of physicians 
and surgeons in this State shall confer a diploma for the degree of 
doctor of medicine upon any student, until such student shall have 
fully complied with the requisitions contained in the first section of 
the Act entitled “ An Act to incorporate Medical Societies for the 
purpose of regulating the practice of Physic and Surgery in this 
State,” passed 20th of April, 1818; and also, in addition thereto, 
have attended one complete course of lectures delivered by each 
of the professors of such college. STATUTES. 
13 
EXTRACTS 
FROM THE 
REVISED STATUTES, 
CHAPTER XIV., TITLE VII. 
GENERAL REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE PRACTICE OF 
PHYSIC AND SURGERY IN THIS STATE. 
§ 1. The President of every County Medical Society shall give 
notice in writing, to every physician and surgeon, not already ad- 
mitted into such Society, within the county in which the Society of 
which lie is President is situated, requiring such physician or sur- 
geon, within sixty days after the service of .such notice, to apply 
for and receive a certificate of admission as a member of such 
Society. 
§ 2. The service of every such notice shall be made personally 
on the physician or surgeon to whom it shall be directed; and if 
such physician or surgeon shall not, within the time specified in the 
notice, or within such further time as may be allowed by the Presi- 
dent, under the regulations of the Society, apply for a certificate of 
membership in such Society, his license shall be deemed forfeited, 
and he shall be subject thereafter to all the provisions and penalties 
of the laws of this State, in relation to unlicensed physicians, until, 
upon a special application, he shall be admitted a member of the 
Medical Society in the county in which he shall reside. 
§ 3. If there shall be preferred to any County Medical Society, 
specific charges against any member thereof, of gross ignorance or 
misconduct in his profession, or of immoral conduct or habits, a 
special meeting of the Society to consider the charges, shall be 
called, of which at least ten days’ previous notice shall be given, in 
one or more of the newspapers printed in the county. 
§ 4. If two-thirds of the members present at such meeting shall 
be of opinion that the charges preferred are well founded, the Presi- 
dent of the Society shall, without delay, deliver a certified copy of 
the charges, and of the vote of the Society thereon, to the District 
Attorney of the county, and shall give notice of such delivery to 
the member accused, who from that time shall bo suspended from 14 
S T A T U TES. 
the practice of physic and surgery, until the determination of such 
charges, in the manner hereinafter provided. 
§ 5. The District Attorney to whom the charges shall be deliv- 
ered, shall serve a copy thereof, without delay, on the member 
accused, and at the same time shall give him notice of the time and 
place at which the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the 
county will meet for the purpose of hearing and determining the 
same; such notice shall be served at least fourteen days before the 
time of hearing appointed. 
§ 6. The District Attorney shall conduct the prosecution of the 
charges, and shall issue process to compel the attendance of such 
witnesses as the President of the Society and the member accused, 
shall severally require. 
§ 7. The judges of the County Court, at the time and place of 
hearing appointed, or at such other time and place as they shall 
fix, shall proceed to hear and determine the charges, and shall 
examine, on oath, the witnesses produced: if they, or a majority 
of them, shall be satisfied, from the evidence, that the charges are 
true, they shall make an order, which shall be valid in law, expelling 
the member accused from the Society, and declaring him forever 
thereafter incapable of practising physic and surgery within this 
State, or suspending him from such practice for a limited period: if 
they shall be of opinion that the charges are not established, the 
suspension of the member accused shall cease, and he shall be re- 
stored to all his rights and privileges as a practising physician and 
surgeon. 
§ 8. No student shall be admitted to an examination by any 
Medical Society, until he shall have completed, with some physi- 
cian and surgeon duly authorized by law to practice his profession, 
the term of medical study prescribed in the following sections of this 
title. v 
§ 9. The regular term of the study of medical science shall be 
four years; but a deduction from such term, in no case to exceed 
one year, shall be made in either of the following cases :— 
I. If the student, after the age of sixteen, shall have pursued any 
of the studies tisual in the colleges of this State, the period during 
which he shall have pursued such studies shall be deducted. 
II. If the student, after the age of sixteen, shall have attended a 
complete course of all the lectures delivered in an incorporated 
medical college in this State, or elsewhere, one year shall be 
deducted. STATUTES. 
15 
§ 10. The physician and surgeon with whom a student shall 
commence his studies, shall file a certificate with the President of 
the County Medical Society to which he belongs, certifying that 
such person has so commenced his studies; and the term of study 
shall he considered as commencing from the day on which such 
certificate is filed. 
§ 11. If the term of study shall be intended to he for less than 
four years, upon either of the grounds mentioned in the ninth sec- 
tion of this title, the President with whom the certificate shall he 
filed, upon satisfactory proof that a deduction ought to he allowed, 
shall annex to such certificate an order specifying the period, not 
exceeding one year, which, according to the proof exhibited to him, 
ought to he deducted from the term of four years, and directing 
that the term of study of the student shall be for the period that 
shall remain. 
§ 12. No person shall receive from the Regents of the University 
a diploma conferring the degree of doctor of medicine, unless he 
shall have pursued the study of medical science for at least three 
years, after the age of sixteen, with some physician and surgeon 
duly authorized, by law, to practice his profession, and shall also, 
after the same age, have attended two complete courses of all the 
lectures delivered in an incorporated medical college, and have 
attended the last of such courses in the college by which he shall he 
recommended for his degree. [The Regents of the University may, 
in their discretion, confer the Honorary degree of doctor of medicine 
upon such persons, not to exceed four in any one year, as may he 
recommended to them for that purpose by the Medical Society of 
this State ; hut such honorary degree shall in no case he a license to 
practice physic or surgery. 1840, ch. 360.] 
§ 13. No student, who has attended one or more courses of medi- 
cal lectures, shall be admitted to an examination by any Medical 
Society, except of the county in which he shall have pursued his 
medical studies for four ifionths immediately preceding his attend- 
ance upon his last course of lectures, or by the Censors of the State 
Medical Society. [Act of 1836.] 
§ 14. No person who shall have been examined by the Censors 
of any County Medical Society, as a candidate for the practice of 
physic and surgery, or either of them, and shall have been rejected 
on such examination, shall be admitted to an examination before 
the Censors of any other County Medical Society ; hut such person 16 
STATUTES. 
may appeal from the decision of the Censors by whom lie shall have 
been examined, to the Medical Society of the State. 
§ 15. No person, who, either upon an original examination or 
upon an appeal, shall have been rejected by the Censors of the State 
Medical Society, shall thereafter he admitted to an examination 
before the Censors of any County Medical Society. 
§ 10. No person shall practice physic or surgery, unless he shall 
have received a license or diploma for that purpose, from one of 
the incorporated Medical Societies in this State, or the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine from the Regents of the University; or shall 
have been duly authorized to practice by the laws of some other 
State or country, and have a diploma from some incorporated col- 
lege of medicine, or legally incorporated Medical Society, in such 
State or country. 
§ 17. No person coming from another country shall practice 
physic or surgery in this State, until he shall have been examined 
by the Censors of the State Medical Society; and no person coming 
from another State shall practice physic or surgery in this State, 
until he shall have filed a copy of his diploma in the office of the 
Cleric of the county where he resides, and until he shall have 
exhibited to the Medical Society of that county satisfactory testi- 
monials of his qualifications; or shall have been examined and 
approved by its Censors. [Act of 1841.] 
§ 18. No diploma granted by any authority out of this State, to 
an individual who shall have pursued his studies in any medical 
school within this State, not incorporated and organized under its 
laws, shall confer on such individual the right of practising physic 
or surgery within this State. 
§ 19. Every person licensed to practice physic or surgery, or 
both, shall deposit a copy of such license with the Clerk of the 
county where he resides, who shall file the same in his office; and 
until such license is so deposited, such person shall be liable to 
all the penalties provided by law, in the same manner as if he had 
no license. 
§ 20. No person under the age of twenty-one years shall be 
entitled to practice physic or surgery in this State. 
§ 21. The degree of Doctor of Medicine, conferred by any col- 
lege in this State, shall not be a license to practice physic or surgery; 
nor shall any college have, or institute, a medical faculty, to teach 
the science of medicine, in any other place than where the charter 
locates the college. STATUTES. 
17 
§ 22. The provisions of the twenty-first section of Title seven, 
Chapter fourteen, and'first part of the Revised Statutes, shall not 
be deemed to apply to the diplomas conferring the degree of Doctor 
of Medicine granted by the Trustees of Geneva College upon the 
recommendation of the Medical Faculty of the said College, estab- 
lished at the place where the Charter locates the College, and upon 
the recommendation of at least three curators of the medical pro- 
fession, appointed by the said Trustees; but no person shall receive 
any such diploma, unless he shall have pursued the study of medical 
science for at least three years after the age of sixteen, with some 
physician and surgeon duly authorized by law to practice his pro- 
fession, and shall also, after that age, have attended two complete 
courses of all the lectures delivered in some incorporated medical 
college, the last of which course shall have been delivered by the 
Medical Faculty of Geneva College; and all the provisions of said 
Title seven, which require an attendance upon the lectures delivered 
at an incorporated medical college, shall be deemed to apply to and 
include the lectures delivered by the Medical Faculty of Geneva 
College ; and the diplomas granted pursuant to this Act shall have 
the same force and effect as licenses to practice physic and surgery, 
as are given by law to the licenses granted by any incorporated 
Medical Society of this State. [See Laws of 1833.] 
§ 23. The provisions of the twenty-first section of Title seven, 
Chapter fourteen, and first part of the Revised Statutes, shall not be 
deemed to apply to the diplomas conferring the degree of Doctor of 
Medicine granted by the Council of the University of the City of 
New York, upon the recommendation of the Medical Faculty of the 
said University, established therein; but no person shall receive any 
such diploma, unless he shall have pursued the study of medical 
science for at least three years after the age of sixteen, with some 
physician and surgeon duly authorized by law to practice his pro- 
fession, and shall also, after that age, have attended two complete 
courses of all the lectures delivered in some incorporated medical 
college, the last of which courses shall have been delivered by the 
Medical Faculty of the University of the City of New York; and 
all the provisions of said Title seven, which require an attendance 
upon the lectures delivered at an incorporated medical college, shall 
be deemed to apply to and include the lectures delivered by the 
Medical Faculty of the University of the City of New York; and 
diplomas granted pursuant to this Act shall have the same force and 
effect as licenses to practice physic and surgery, as are given by law 
to the licenses granted by any incorporated Medical Society in this 
State. [See Laws of 1837.] 18 
STATUTES. 
§ 24. Contains the same provisions as to the force and effect of 
the diplomas of M. D. granted by the Albany Medical College. 
[Laws 1839, Ch. 26, § 5.] 
§ 25. Contains the same as to the diplomas of Buffalo University. 
[Laws of 1846, Ch. 34, § 2.] 
§ 26. “ Diplomas granted by Madison University shall entitle the 
possessors to the immunities and privileges allowed by statute to the 
possessors of like diplomas from an}" College or Seminary of learning 
in this State.” [Laws 1846, Ch. 46.] 
§ 27. Contains same provisions as to the St. John’s College, Ford- 
ham. [Laws 1846, Ch. 61.] 
§ 28. Contains same provisions as to the University of Rochester. 
[Laws 1846, Ch. 146, § 5.] 
§ 29. The Trustees of the Mew York Medical College shall have 
power to confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine by a diploma, 
which said diploma shall have the same force and effect as a license 
to practice physic and surgery, as are given by law to the licenses 
granted by any incorporated Medical Society in this State. [Laws 
of 1850, 206, § 5.] 
[Note.—The same provisions are attached to the Charters of the Metropolitan Medical 
College of New York, 1S57; and the Long Island College Hospital of Brooklyn, 1858.— 
Com. Med. Soc., Co. Kings.'] 
§ 30. Contains same provisions as to the University of Albany, as 
relate to the Madison University, St. John’s College of Fordham, and 
the University of Rochester. [Laws of 1851, Ch. 199.] 
§ 31. The twenty-second section of Chapter fourteenth, Title 
seven, part first of the Revised Statutes, and all laws of this 
State which prohibit any person from recovering by suit or action, 
any debt or demand arising from the practice of physic or surgery, 
or a compensation for services rendered in attending the sick, or in 
prescribing for the sick, are hereby repealed. [Laws of 1844, 
1 Chap., 275, § 1.] 
§ 32. Mo person shall be liable to any criminal prosecution, or to 
indictment, for practising physic and surgery without license, except- 
ing in cases of mal-practice, or gross ignorance, or immoral conduct 
in such practice. [Laws of 1844, Chap. 275, § 3.] 
§ 33. All and every person, not being a licensed physician, who 
shall practice, or attempt to practice, physic or surgery, or who 
shall prescribe for or administer medicines or specifics to or for the STATUTES. 
19 
sick, shall be liable for damages, in cases of mal-practice, as if sucli 
person were duly licensed to practice physic or surgery. [See Sec. 
4, same Chap.] 
§ 34. Any person, not being a licensed physician, who shall 
practice, or profess to practice, physic or surgery, or shall pre- 
scribe medicines or specifics for the sick, and shall, in any court 
having cognizance thereof, he convicted of gross ignorance, mal- 
practice, or immoral conduct, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and liable to a fine of not less than fifty dollars, nor not 
exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail 
not less than one month, nor exceeding twelve months, or both, in 
the discretion of the court. [Sec. 5, same Chap.] 
§ 35. No person shall he hereafter allowed to commence or prac- 
tice, in the City of New York, the business of an apothecary, or 
that of preparing or dispensing medicine, or of preparing or putting 
up physicians’ prescriptions, -without having previously obtained the 
diploma of the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York, or 
unless furnished with a diploma from-some other regularly consti- 
tuted College of Pharmacy or Medicine, or shall have passed an 
examination of the Censors of the Medical Society of one of the 
counties of this State, and have been furnished by such Censors with 
a certificate of his qualifications for the business of an apothecary ; 
which diploma or certificate he shall produce to the Secretary of 
the said College of Pharmacy, to be by him registered, without 
charge. 
§ 36. Any persons offending against the provisions of this law, 
shall he subject to a penalty of fifty-one dollars for each and every 
offence, which may he recovered, with costs, in the name of the 
People of the State of New York, in any civil court of record; and 
the said fines, when collected, after deducting such reasonable 
counsel fees as the court shall alloAV, shall be paid by the District 
Attorney to the Treasurer of the New York City Dispensary, for the 
use of said Dispensary. 
§ 37. This law shall not apply to persons who now carry on said 
business, nor the preparation and dispensing of medicines by licensed 
physicians. BY-LAWS 
OF THK 
MEDICAL SOCIETY 
OF THE 
COUNTY O IF KINGS. 
REVISED AND ADOPTED, AUGUST 10, 1858. OFFICERS ELECTED APRIL, 1858. 
PRESIDENT, 
CHAUMCEY L. MITCHELL, M. I). 
Vice-President, 
JOSEPH W. BROOKS, M. D. 
Treasurer, 
ANDREW OTTERBON, M. D. 
Secretary, 
ALEXANDER LITTLE, M. D. 
Assistant Secretary, 
JOHN BALL, M. D. 
Censors, 
THEODORE L. MASON, M. D., 
CHARLES E. ISAACS, M. D., 
GEORGE I. BENNET, M. D., 
ULRICH PALMEDO, M. D., 
HORATIO S. SMITH, M. D. 
Delegates to State Medical Society, 
J. SULLIVAN THORNE, M. D., 
JOHN BALL, M. D., 
ANDREW OTTERSON, M. D., 
GEORGE COCHRAN, M. D. 
Delegates to American Medical Association, 
THEODORE L. MASON, M. D„ 
JAMES CRANE, M. D., 
H. J. CULLEN, M. D., 
WILLIAM H. DUDLEY, M. D. 
JOHN BALL, M. D. 
GEORGE MARVIN, M. D., 
Committee on Ethics, 
JAMES H. HENRY, M. D., 
THEODORE L. MASON, M. D. BY-LAWS 
OF THE 
MEDICAL SOCIETY 
OF THE 
COUNTY OF FZI3STG-S. 
CHAPTER I. 
TITLE OFFICERS AND MEETINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 
Article 1. The Title of this Society shall be “The 
Medical Society of the County of Kings.” 
Art 2. The Officers of the Society shall be, a Presi- 
dent, a Vice-President, a Secretary, an Assistant Secretary, 
a Librarian and five Censors. 
Art. 3. There shall be an Annual Meeting on the 
second Monday in April of every year, of which the same 
notice shall be given as of the Quarterly Meetings of the 
Society. 
Art. 4. There shall be quarterly meetings on the 
second Tuesday in the months of July, October and 
January, of which two days notice shall be given by the 
Secretary, in the daily papers, and in writing to each 
member of the Society. 
Art. 5. Special Meetings may be called by the 
President, or in his absence by the Vice-President, at 24 
BY-LAWS. 
the request in writing, of five members, of which public 
notice in the daily papers, and a written notice to 
each resident member shall be given by the Secretary. 
Art. 6. There shall be Monthly Meetings of the 
Society on the third Tuesday of each month, of which 
written notice shall be given to each resident member of 
the Society. 
CHAPTER II. 
ORDER OF BUSINESS AND RULES OF ORDER. 
Article 1. At each Quarterly or Monthly Meeting, 
after the presiding officer shall have declared the Society 
formed, the following shall be the Order of Business : 
1. Reading of the Minutes. 
2. Proposal of Members. 
3. Report of Censors and Election of Hew Members. 
4. Report of Scientific and other Committees. 
5. Communications, Discussions, and Reading of 
Papers in the order directed by the .Presiding Officer. 
6. Unfinished Business and Amendments to By-Laws 
considered. 
Y. Hew Business. 
Art. 2. At each Special Meeting, the object for which 
the Society Avas convened, shall be considered immedi- 
ately after the reading of the minutes of the last 
meeting. 
Art. 3. At each Annual Meeting, the Election of 
Officers and Delegates to the State Society, and to the 
American Medical Association, shall he held by ballot, 
immediately after the election of new members. 
Art. 4. The Treasurer’s Report shall be heard, and 
accounts against the Society considered and acted on, 
immediately after the election of officers. BY-LAWS. 
25 
Akt. 5. The following shall he the Rules of Order of 
this Society : 
1. Any member who may speak on any subject or 
question before the Society, shall rise and address his 
remark to the President. 
2. Every member shall have the privilege of speak- 
ing twice on any question under consideration, but not 
oftener, unless by permission of the Society. 
3. Any member called to order while speaking, shall 
take his seat, and the debate be suspended until the point 
of order is settled. 
4. All questions of order shall be decided by the 
Chair, subject to an appeal, which shall be determined 
by vote, without debate. 
5. ISTo motion shall be made while a member is 
speaking; and in all cases the mover must rise and 
address the Chair. 
6. All resolutions and amendments shall be offered in 
writing, when required by any member. 
7. dSTo motion or resolution shall be considered 
unless seconded; nor question, unless stated by the 
President. 
8. When a question is under debate no motion 
shall be received, but to adjourn ; to lay on the table ; 
for the previous question; to postpone ; to refer; or to’ 
amend ; which several motions shall have precedence in 
the order in which they are here arranged. The first 
three shall be decided without debate. 
9. When a blank is to be filled, the question shall 
be first taken on the highest number, the greatest sum, 
or longest time proposed. 
10. Any member may call for a division of a question, 
when the sense will admit of it. 26 
BY-LAWS. 
11. The yeas and nays on any question, when called 
for by five members present, shall be taken without 
debate and recorded on the minutes. 
12. After any question has been decided, except one 
of indefinite postponement, any twxo members who voted 
in the majority, may, at the same or next stated meeting, 
move for a reconsideration thereof; without which, no 
discussion shall be allowed. 
13. All questions of order, not provided for by these 
rules, shall be determined by Parliamentary usage. 
CHAPTER III. 
PRESIDENT. 
Article 1. It shall be the duty of the President to 
preside at all meetings of the Society ; to call the meet- 
ings to order at the appointed time, and to preserve order 
and decorum. 
Art. 2. He shall perform the duties prescribed by 
the Statutes, By-Laws, and Resolutions of the Society. 
Art. 3. He shall deliver an inaugural address on his 
taking the chair as presiding oflicer, at the Quarterly 
Meeting in July. 
Art. 4. He shall appoint all Committees, unless other- 
wise ordered by special resolution. 
Art. 5. lie shall take the sense of the Society on 
every motion made and seconded, and declare the 
result. 
Art. 6. He, or any member who may preside, shall 
have no vote, except on questions where there is an 
equal division of voices. 
Art. T. He shall cause a personal service of the fol- 
lowing notice to be made, in writing, on every physician 27 
BY-LA AV S. 
and surgeon residing in the County of Kings, not already 
admitted a member of this Society, viz.:— 
“I, (name) President of the Medical Society oe the County 
of Kings, being required so to do by the Statutes of this State, and 
by direction of the Society, hereby notify you, (name) within sixty 
days from the service hereof, to make a written application to me 
for admission to the Society, and to present to me your diploma, 
and such other testimonials as you may possess, of regular standing 
in the profession of medicine, together with a certificate from the 
Clerk of this County that you have deposited a copy of your diploma 
in his office. 
“ Signed (name.) 
“ President Med. Society, Go. of Kings.'1'1 
Art. 8. He shall give a certificate of membership to 
all members elect, who have signed the By-Laws, and 
paid the initiation fee. 
Art. 9. He shall confer a diploma of license on such 
persons as are certified by the Censors to be qualified 
for the practice of physic and surgery, on receiving for 
such diploma the sum of five dollars, for the use of the 
Society. 
Art. 10. He shall pay to the Treasurer all moneys he 
may receive for the use of the Society. 
Art. 11. He shall keep on file all documents and 
certificates in relation to the Society, which are by law 
deposited with him ; and these he shall deliver to liis 
successor. 
CHAPTER IY. 
VICE-PRESIDENT. 
The Vice-President, in the absence of the President, 
shall preside, and perform the duties of the President. 28 
BY-LAWS. 
CHAPTER Y. 
CENSORS. 
Article 1. The Censors shall perform the duties pre- 
scribed by the Statutes, the By-Laws and Resolutions of 
the SocietjL 
Art. 2. In the absence of the President and Yice- 
President, the senior Censor shall preside. 
Art. 3. The seniority of the Censors shall be deter- 
mined by the Censors themselves, immediately after their 
election ; and notice thereof shall be given to the Secre- 
tary and President. 
Art. 4. The Censors shall examine the credentials of 
all candidates for admission, and report thereon to the 
Society, at the meeting next subsequent to that at which 
the candidate is proposed, or as soon thereafter as practi- 
cable. 
Art. 5. They shall examine all applicants for a 
license to practice physic and surgery, who have com- 
plied with the requisitions of the Statutes of the State, 
and the By-Laws of the Society ; and shall give to those 
qualified a certificate to that effect, addressed to the 
President. 
CHAPTER YI. 
TREASURER. 
Article 1. The Treasurer shall perform the duties 
directed by the Statutes, the By-Laws and Resolutions 
of the Society. 
Art. 2. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to put 
all the moneys of the Society into one fund ; to pay out 
the same only as the Society may direct, by vote, at an 
Annual Meeting ; and by a warrant for that purpose, 
signed by the President. 29 
BY-LAWS. 
Art. 3. He shall render an account, at every Annual 
Meeting, of all the moneys received and expended by 
him, and of all balances remaining in his hands. 
CHAPTER YIT. 
SECRETARY. 
Article 1. ' The Secretary shall perform the duties 
directed by the Statutes, the By-Laws and Resolutions 
of the Society. 
Art. 2. He shall keep in his book a full and distinct 
record of all the transactions of the Society, and a chro- 
nological list of all the members. 
Art. 3. He shall register in his book, and shall read 
at each Annual Meeting, the names of all medical men 
who have refused or neglected to unite with the Society, 
on the notice of the President, or who, having applied 
for admission, have been found unqualified by the 
Censors. 
Art. 4. He shall publish, at least once in each year, 
in one or more newspapers, a list of the members of the 
Society. 
Art. 5. He shall inform all persons admitted by vote 
of the Society, of their election ; and notify them to call 
upon him, pay the initiation fee, and sign the By-Laws ; 
and he shall report at the Annual Meeting the names of 
all members elect, who have neglected or refused to do 
so, in accordance with the Regulations of the Society. 
Art. 6. He shall permit no member elect to sign the 
By-Laws of the Society, except on his paying the initia- 
tion fee, or exhibiting a receipt for the same, signed by 
the President or Treasurer. 
Art. 7. He shall conduct the correspondence of the 
Society. He shall retain copies of all letters written by 30 
BY-LAWS. 
him in behalf of the Society, and preserve on file all 
letters and communications received by him in his 
official capacity, and report the same at each Stated 
Meeting; and lie shall obey all orders and resolutions 
appertaining to his office. 
CHAPTER YIII. 
ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 
The Assistant Secretary shall issue notices of all meet- 
ings of the Society, in the manner directed in Articles 
3d, 4tli, and 5th of Chapter I. of the By-Laws ; and, pre- 
vious to every election, prepare a list of those eligible to 
office, and entitled to vote; assist the Secretary in the 
discharge of his duties; and, in his absence, perform 
them. 
CHAPTER IX. 
LIBRARIAN. 
The Librarian shall have charge of all books, pam- 
phlets, manuscripts, anatomical or pathological speci- 
mens, apparatus, instruments, medals, coins, or scientific 
property, of whatever kind; and affix to each donation 
the name of the donor ; keep a catalogue ; observe such 
rules as shall be prescribed for the regulation of his de- 
partment, and render a full account thereof, at least once 
a year, and oftener, if required. 
CHAPTER X. 
DELEGATES. 
The Delegates shall perform the duties required by 
the Statutes of the State, and support the honor and 
dignity, and obey the orders and resolutions of the 
Society. 31 
BY-LAWS. 
CHAPTER XI. 
ORDINARY MEMBERS. 
Article 1. The Ordinary Members shall consist of 
physicians and surgeons only. 
Art. 2. To support the honor and dignity of the 
medical profession, and discharge the duties of a practi- 
tioner with fidelity and integrity, is the duty of each 
member. 
Art. 3. It shall be the duty of every member to 
observe the code of medical ethics adopted by this 
Society. 
Art. 4. Every member shall observe order and deco- 
rum in the meetings; shall pay due respect to the 
President and other officers, and to his fellows ; and no 
member shall withdraw during the session, without spe- 
cial permission from the Chair. 
Art. 5. Each member, on entering a meeting of the 
Society, shall write his name in a register provided for 
this purpose by the Secretary. 
Art. 6. Xo member who has been absent from three 
successive Quarterly Meetings of this Society, during the 
preceding year, without satisfactory excuse, shall be 
eligible to any office, at the next Anniversary Meeting. 
Art. 7. Members in arrears with the Treasurer, shall 
neither be eligible to office, nor entitled to vote at any 
Annual Meeting, until such arrears are paid. 
CHAPTER XII. 
ADMISSION OF MEMBERS. 
Article 1. All applications for admission to the mem- 
bership of this Society shall be made at one Stated 
Meeting, and decided at the next, or any subsequent 
meeting, when the Censors shall report on their credentials. 32 
BY-LAW'S. 
Art. 2. Any physician or surgeon practising in this 
county, may, on application, become a member of this 
Society, if the Censors, or a majority of them, on exami- 
nation of his credentials, shall certify that he is entitled 
to practice physic and surgery according to the laws of 
State ; and if, on being balloted for, he shall have a 
majority of votes of the members present. 
Art. 3. Every person thus admitted, shall sign the 
By-Laws, and designate the State or country of his birth, 
and the medical rank or station then or formerly held by 
him. 
Art. 4. Every person admitted into the Society shall, 
before signing the By-Laws, pay to the Treasurer five 
dollars, to be appropriated to the use of the Society; 
and shall be presented with a certificate of membership, 
and with a copy of the Charter and By-Laws. 
Art. 5. Xo person who has been admitted to the 
Society, and who has refused or neglected to comply 
with the requisitions of the 3d and 4th Articles of 
Chapter XII., shall be entitled to the privileges of 
membership. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
CONTRIBUTIONS AND ARREARS. 
Article 1. The Society, at the Anniversary Meeting, 
may establish such contributions as shall meet the yearly 
expenses, and all the debts of the Society. 
CHAPTER XIY. 
COMMITTEE ON ETIIICS. 
Article 1. A Committee on Ethics shall he annually- 
appointed, consisting of three members, whose duty it BY-LAWS. 
33 
shall be to take cognizance of all complaints of breaches 
of the Code of Ethics, and to endeavor to reclaim offend- 
ers, .before proceeding formally against them. 
Art. 2. Charges of violation of the laws or Ethics 
of the Society, or immoral conduct, or habits, shall be 
presented in writing to the Chairman of the Committee, 
enclosed in a sealed envelope, with the words “ Charges 
against a Member” written upon it. 
Art. 3. The Chairman, on receiving such charges, 
shall notify the Committee to meet and examine the 
same, and the evidence thereof. 
Art. 4. If a majority of the Committee so met shall 
be of opinion that the charges are well founded, they 
shall serve a copy of them upon the accused, and cause 
a Special Meeting of the Society to be called to investi- 
gate them; of which the person against whom the 
charges are made shall have at least ten days’ notice, in 
writing. 
Art. 5. At such meeting, the Committee shall report 
their opinion, and the grounds thereof; and if the person 
accused (having had a fair opportunity to make his de- 
fence) shall be found guilty by a vote of two-thirds of the 
members present, the Society shall proceed to determine 
the penalty, and cause it to be carried into effect. 
Art. 6. The penalty—whether it be the reprimand, 
suspension, or expulsion of the member—shall be decided 
by a majority of the votes cast. 
CHAPTER XT. 
HONORARY MEMBERS. 
Article 1. Any member may propose a candidate as 
an honorary member; but the medical rank or station 
then or formerly held by him shall be furnished in writ- 34 
BY-LAWS. 
ing by the proposer; and, if satisfactory, he may, at a 
subsequent meeting, be balloted for, and elected by a 
majority of votes. • 
Art. 2. Hot more than three honorary members shall 
be annually elected. 
Art. 3. The honorary members may attend the 
meetings of the Society, but shall not be entitled to 
vote. 
DIPLOMA CONFERRED ON HONORARY MEMBERS. 
Societal Medica Comitatus Begum Omnibus lias literas perlecturis. 
SALUTEM. 
Virum probum et ornatissimum, D. D. 
A. B. Quem fama promit, scientiarum 
medicime et cbirurgia) cultorem, liberalium honoribus artium pro- 
vectum, Placuit nobis Prsesidi, caeterisq: Sociis hujusce Comitatus 
Concil: Med: Facultatus Socium constituere Honorarium; atque 
auctoritatem ei donare, privilegia et immunitates ad nostrates Hedi- 
cseq: Facultatis qua) pertinent; ubiq: terrarum dextra et lionore 
amplectendum. 
In quorum fidem, has litera), pro Emerito Socio D. D. 
A. B. manibus, sigilloq. Archiatrum munitae luben- 
tissime mandantur. Medicis yEdibus Brooklyni. 
A. D. 18 Mensis, 
die 
Press. 
Scr. 
CHAPTER XYI. 
LICENTIATES. 
Article 1. Every candidate for license to practice 
physic or surgery, who shall have complied with the 
requisitions ot the Statutes of the State, with regard to 
the term of study and other particulars, shall be exam- 
ined by the Censors, on paying to them the sum of Jive 
dollars, for the use of the Society. B Y-L AAV S. 
35 
Art. 2. Every person who, upon examination by the 
Censors, shall be found qualified for the practice of medi- 
cine and surgery, shall receive from them a certificate to 
that effect, addressed to the President of the Society, 
who shall thereupon confer on him the following 
Diploma:— 
Omnibus ad quos lue literice pervenerint. 
SALUTEM: 
NOS, Societatis Aledicaa Comitatis Regum, Prseses, Caeterique, 
Socii, hoc scripto testatum volumus, (here insert the name and 
country of the candidate,) Artis medicae et chirurgiae sub viris in 
medecina peritis, tempore praestituto, se studio incubuisse, et in 
liisce studiis progressum, luculento testimonio, nobis probasse et 
commendasse. Quocirca, ex auctoritate nobis commissa, medicinaa 
et artis chirurgiae, in hac civitate exercendse, ei potestatem, cum 
omnibus privilegiis ad has artes pertinentibus, concedimus. 
In quorum testimonium liocce diploma, sigillo nostro, 
munitiun, donavimus. Datum Brooklyni, Alensis, 
die A. D. Alillesimo octigentesimo 
Freeses, 
a Secretis. 
Art. 3. If, instead of the above, a diploma in the 
English language should he requested by the person so 
admitted, it shall he in the following form, viz.:— 
To all whom these Presents shall come, or may in any wise 
concern : 
The President and Members of the Medical Society of the County 
of Kings, send greeting :—Whereas, (insert name and country of the 
candidate) hath exhibited unto us satisfactory testimony that he 
hath studied physic and surgery for the term and in the manner 
directed by law; and hath also, upon examination by our Censors, 
given sufficient proofs of his proficiency in the healing art, and of his 
moral character: Wherefore, by virtue of the power vested in us by 
law, we do grant unto the said (insert the name of the candidate) 36 
BY-LAWS. 
the privilege of practising physic and surgery in this State, together 
with all the rights and immunities which usually appertain to phy- 
sicians and surgeons. 
In witness whereof, Ave have granted this Diploma, 
sealed with our seal, and testified by our President 
and Secretary, at (insert place, day and year.) 
Art. 4. Every person admitted to the practice of 
physic or surgery, shall sign the following declaration, 
viz.:— 
I, A. B., do solemnly declare, tliat I will honestly, virtuously, and 
chastely conduct myself in the practice of physic and surgery, and 
that I will, with fidelity and honor, do everything in my power for 
the benefit of the sick committed to my charge. 
This declaration, so signed, shall be preserved among 
the archives of the Society. 
Art. 5. Every person receiving a diploma of license, 
shall be notified by the Secretary that he must deposit a 
copy of the same with the Clerk of the County in which 
he may reside; and that, until this be done, he is subject 
to penalty as an illegal practitioner. 
Aet. 6. Every person admitted to the practice of 
physic and surgery by this Society, shall pay to the 
President, for the use of the Society, five dollars; and he 
shall be presented with a copy of the Charter and By- 
Laws. 
CHAPTER XVII. 
AMENDMENTS. 
Tlie preceding Articles may be altered or amended, or 
new ones added, if tlie same be deemed necessary, and 
adopted by two-tliirds of the members present, at a Stated 
Meeting of the Society; and all propositions or motions, 
for such amendments, alterations, or additions, shall be in 
writing, and shall be laid before the Society one Quar- 
terly Meeting previous to their adoption. THE MEDICAL SOCIETY 
OP THE COUNTY OF KINGS, 
WAS ORGANIZED MARCH 2, 1822. 
The List of Members includes the names of all tcho have ever belonged 
to the Society. 
*Cornelius Low, 
Matthew Wendell, 
*Adrian Vanderveer, 
John Carpenter, 
fWm. D. Creed, 
Thomas W. Henry, 
* Joseph G. T. Hunt, 
* Charles Ball, 
*Francis II. Dubois, 
*Nelson N. Hurd, 
1ST. Smith, 
Nelson A. Garrison, 
JGeorge Cox, 
*John Cole, 
*John B. Zahriskee, 
*Isaac Rapelyea, 
*T. Jelferson Jones, 
*John C. Fanning, 
*Fred. Burkelew, 
fWm. G. Hunt, 
fRipley E. W. Adams, 
Robert Edmonds, 
Names E. Dubois, 
*Wm. H. Yansinderen, 
*J. Y. E. Yanderhoef, 
George Marvin, 
F. W. Ostrander, 
Samuel Boyd, 
F. W. Hurd, 
J. Sullivan Thorne, 
t Cyrus Frink, 
Lucius Hyde, 
Theodore L. Mason, 
fSamuel C. Merwin, 
Joseph Howard, 
|John P. Tarbell, 
Purcell Cooke, 
Chauncey L. Cooke, 
*Thos. B. Downing, 
Henry Wilsher, 
*Samuel Hart, 
Theodore F. King, 
*Peter McGivney, 
* Abraham Yan Pelt, 
Charles Rowland, 
W. Brooks, 
t Alfred C. Post, 
George Giliillan, 
George C. Ball, 
Bradley Parker, 38 
list of members. 
fH. F. Spear, 
*D. M. Schoonmaker, 
fH. H. Dexter, 
J. Condit Halsey, 
C. R. McClellan, 
tJames J. Hulbert, 
fDa'yton Decker, 
Rosman, 
Wm. K. Brown, 
George I. Bennet, 
fRufus Belden, 
fJohn W. Corson, 
fDavid F. Atwater, 
Ezekiel Ostrander, 
Atkins, 
*Rohert McMillan, 
William Swift, 
Wm. H. Dudley, 
James H. Henry, 
Wm. C. Betts, 
*John McKenna, 
H. J. Cullen, 
fJohn M. Moriarty, 
James II. Hutchins, 
fSamuel J. Osborn, 
A. Otterson, 
fllenry L. Benjamin, 
T. Anderson Wade, 
D. Ayres, Jr. 
C. L. Mitchell, 
C. Brunninghausen, 
fJohn F. Morse, 
tJames D. Trask, 
Joseph P. Colgan, 
*John Cochran, 
Edwin N. Chapman, 
Charles S. Skelton, 
Daniel Brooks, 
Ulric Palmedo, 
JEdw’d C. Price, 
fBenj. Weeks, 
John A. Betts, 
tMatthew H. Hudson, 
Wm. H. Williams, 
+E. 0. Franklin, 
James Crane, Jr. 
John Ball, 
Edward Ilaggerty, 
* Augustus Kalt, 
Garrit Y. Manley, 
T. W. Powers, 
Horatio S. S. Smith, 
*John G. Ladd, 
Frederick Morris, 
Dan’l E. Eissam, 
Otto Eotton, 
R. E. Rhodes, 
Augustus Robbins, 
R. S. Olmstead, 
Alexander Little, 
Wm. II. Van Duyne, 
George Cochran, 
J. C. Hutchinson, 
C. E. Isaacs, 
John Van Hess, 
Charles Hewhaus, 
James Strong, 
Richard Barthlemess, 
Samuel T. Swalm, 
Carl August Louis Bauer, 
Arnold Hallett, 
W. Ileuser, 
Richard M. Buell, 
John Byrne, 
Samuel II. Hart, 
D. S. Landon, 
I). Tomkins Gray, 
Wm. Arming, 
Jno. T. G. Leach, 
A. K Bell, 
John A. Brady, 
J. H. Hobart Burge, 
Harrison Teller, 
L. C. Hasell, 
John S. Young. 
*Deceased. 
tRemoved. A SYSTEM 
OF 
MEDICAL ETHICS, 
PREPARED BY THE 
STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY, 
AMENDED AND ADOPTED BY THE 
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE COUNTY OF KINGS, 
JANUARY 25th, 1836, AND AUGUST 10th, 1858. 
Testor, Apollinem medicum, et JEsculapium, me quantum in me erit, et 
quantum ingenium meum valebit, hsec omnia observaturum; vitam meam atque 
artem, meam puram atque integram servaturum. 
Ex ffippocratis jurejurando. A SYS T E M 
OF 
MEDICAL ETHICS. 
A system of Medical Ethics comprises all the moral principles 
and regulations which should govern physicians and surgeons in 
the exercise of their professional avocations with the public in 
general, in private and confidential cases, as well as in their inter- 
course with other medical men, and before magistrates and courts of 
justice. 
Such a system may be reduced to the form of a code of medical 
police, exhibiting maxims and precepts in five respective divisions of 
medical ethics under the following heads : 
lsi. Personal Character of Physicians. 
2 d. Quackery. 
3 d. Consultations. 
4th. Specifications of Medical Police in Practice. 
5th. Forensic Medical Police. 
Note.—Precepts and Articles of the Code of Medical Police are severally arranged 
under a series of numbers. 
FIRST DIVISION. 
PERSONAL CHARACTER OF PHYSICIANS. 
It would be difficult to determine which of the three learned pro- 
fessions in society requires the most virtue, or the most purity and 
perfection of personal character. Those only can judge who are 42 
ETHICS. 
themselves acquainted with the difficulties to be surmounted in the 
study of medicine and surgery, and the labor arid extent of the long 
course of experimental observation which it is necessary to pursue, 
before the confidence of the public can be attained. The life of a 
physician is, on the whole, a continued struggle against prejudices 
and erroneous habitudes of the mind, and not unfrequently against 
ingratitude,* exclusive of the personal hazard among the sick, the 
fatigue, and the loss of ordinary comfort and rest which it necessarily 
involves. 
I. A physician cannot successfully pass through his career with- 
out the aid of much fortitude of mind, and a religious sense of all his 
obligations of conscience, honor, and humanity.! His personal 
character should, therefore, be that of a perfect gentleman, and 
above all, be exempt from vulgarity of manners, habitual swearing, 
drunkenness, gambling, or any species of debauchery, and contempt 
for religious practices and feelings.! 
II. The confidence of the public cannot be awarded to a physician 
who has rendered himself notorious for felony or misdemeanor, or 
who has incurred penalties for crimes. 
III. A physician in indigent circumstances is not permitted 
to embrace or exercise any business which would degrade the 
character of his profession; such as keeping a tavern, a lottery-office 
gambling, victualling, or play-house. Any low trade or servile 
mercenary occupation is incompatible with the dignity and indepen- 
dence of medical avocations. In such extreme and derogatory situa- 
tions a physician forfeits the privileges of his profession. 
* It unfortunately happens, that the only judges of medical merit are those who have 
sinister views in concealing and depreciating it. 
[John Gregory, M. I). Lect. I. on the Duties, etc. p. IT. Lond. ed. 
t Hence appears the necessity of a physician having a large share of good sense and 
knowledge of the world, as well as medical genius and learning. 
[V. Gregory, 31. D. Lect. I. page 17. 
$ The most celebrated physicians who to this day remain our models and masters were 
religious men. I know none among the living’ who can be judged greater than Stahl, 
Boerhaave, Linnreus and Haller, who always headed their works by an invocation to the 
Supreme Ruler. 
F. E. Fodere. Vid. Diction, des sciences medicates, art. 3red. police. ETHICS. 
43 
SECOND DIVISION. 
QUACKERY. 
The importance of the medical profession requires that it should 
he exercised with fidelity to its scientific principles and approved 
doctrines; with honor to all its members; and with justice and 
humanity to the sick. A departure from the above principles con- 
stitutes Quackery; which degrades the medical character by 
ignorance, artifice, unapproved methods of practice, and by the use 
of remedies dangerous to health and life. 
IV. Any physician or surgeon who divides his responsibility with 
a known quack, and associates with him in medical consultations, 
receiving a fee or the usual charges for such services, or practices 
with nostrums, or secret medicines, is guilty of quackery. 
V. The right of a patent medicine being incompatible with the 
duty and obligation enjoined upon physicians to advance the 
knowledge of curing diseases, constitutes quackery, and cannot he 
professionally countenanced. 
VI. Public advertisements, or private cards, inviting customers 
afflicted with defined diseases; promising radical cures; engaging 
for no cure, no pay ; producing certificates and signatures even from 
respectable individuals in support of the advertiser’s skill and suc- 
cess, and the like; are all absolutely acts of quackery, which medical 
institutions should always repress, and punish by the rejection or 
expulsion of those who commit them.* 
THIRD DIVISION. 
CONSULTATIONS. 
All the individuals composing the Colleges and Medical Societies 
constituted by the legislature of this State, are by them, qualified 
Physicians and Surgeons. The two professions of Medicine and 
Surgery are blended by the law, both in the schools and in practice. 
The examinations by the Censors of the county and state societies of 
candidates for the degree of license ; and by the professors of colleges 
for the degree of doctor; are equally directed to embrace in their 
* Nothing in this section is to be construed as censuring the establishment by regular- 
physicians of infirmaries for the exclusive benefit of the poor, whether for the treatment 
of a particular class of diseases (as of the eye, ear, lungs, &c.) or of diseases in general ; 
such institutions having been found especially useful to the profession and beneficial to 
the community at large. [Med. Soc. Co. Kings. 44 
ETHICS. 
exercises the elements and doctrines of both sciences, establishing 
thereby the candidate’s proficiency, not only in medicine, but in sur- 
gery. There are no degrees of qualifications, nor are different rights 
assigned to the members of the same profession, hut such as result 
from their individual choice, skill, and fitness. Practical surgery is 
more properly attended to by the younger members, hut the more 
experienced should be deemed competent to direct or inspect either 
the theoretical or practical departments. 
These remarks are offered, to show that the distinction frequently 
adopted in practice, and especially in consultation, between physicians 
and surgeons, confining each other to surgical or medical, external or 
internal cases, has no foundation, in propriety, and if adhered to, 
arises from the wish to indulge in personal or interested motives. 
It is admitted, however, that when the question is merely to per- 
form some operative process, a practical surgeon should be selected 
in preference; but this exception is only applicable, when a 
physician declines (on such accounts as he may think proper) to 
perform a necessary operation, and by no means invalidates the 
principle established in the state of New-York, in conformity to 
Medical Ethics.* 
VII. A consultation of one or many physicians is like a deliber- 
ating committee, over which a senior in age or experience presides, 
each one, however, being equally responsible for the trust assigned 
to him of the cure or relief of the patient. The attending physician 
is exclusively charged with the execution of the treatment, from day 
to day, nor is any consulting physician ever allowed to visit or 
inspect, unless it be with his colleagues, or by agreement, or in cases 
of emergency. 
When a surgical operation is required, it devolves upon the attend- 
ing practitioner of surgery, or on one especially appointed.! 
VIII. A diversity of opinion in consultation is to he regretted, 
for if unavoidable, it must cause much delay and many inconve- 
niences before a medical umpire can be obtained. It is needless to 
point out what a correct sense of delicacy will in this case require 
* Among the moderns, the arts of physic and surgery have often been promiscuously 
practised by the same person: for example, Iliidanus, Severinus, Bartholine, and many 
others of distinguished genius and learning The separation of physic from 
surgery in modern times has been productive of the worst consequences. 
[J. Gregory, Leet. II, p. 44. 
t In consultations, the junior physician (or the physician in ordinary) should deliver his 
opinion first, and the other, in the progressive order of seniority. 
[T. Percival, Med. Ethics,p, 19. ETHICS. 
45 
from a gentleman who, in spite of his opposition, finds himself in 
the minority ; he should politely retire from the consultation, and if 
he be the family physician, he should consistently resign his deliber- 
ative vote.* 
IX. Secrecy respecting the deliberations of a consultation is in- 
dispensable. No communication is to be made to the patient or 
friends but by unanimous order and consent; because, whatever 
opinions are emitted, become subject to frequent alterations or inver- 
sions from mouth to mouth, and may become a source of contradic- 
tion perhaps injurious to some of the physicians in attendance. 
X. It is the duty of a consulting physician to take care that his 
visits be not multiplied without necessity. He is, through courtesy, 
at liberty to decide when to discontinue his attendance. A consult- 
ing physician, however, cannot be dismissed without the consent of 
the patient as well as of the attending physician. 
XI. Physicians are justly censurable if their patient be in danger 
and they do not, in time, procure advice and responsibility beside 
their own. "Whatever be the motive that induces them to dispense 
with a consultation, they certainly may expose their reputation by 
an incorrect judgment or misapprehension of their patient’s case, 
and weaken the confidence reposed in them. And a physician does 
not acquit himself correctly toward his patient if he does not benefit 
him with the best advice that can be procured. Poverty, or the 
narrowness of means to remunerate an additional practitioner, is no 
reasonable excuse; for he can scarcely deserve the name of a prac- 
tising physician, who cannot find at least one medical friend to con- 
sult, when the life or limb of a fellow-creature is in jeopardy. 
FOURTH DIVISION. 
SPECIFICATIONS OF MEDICAL ETIIICS IN PKACTICE. 
XII. It is not intended in this system of Medical Ethics to instruct 
physicians and surgeons upon every felonious act of infanticide, mur- 
* Every physician must rest on his own judgment, which appeals for its rectitude to 
nature and experience alone. 
[J. Gregory, Zed. I, on the Duties and Qualities, <&o., Lond. ed.,p. 14. 
But an obstinate adherence to an unsuccessful method of treating a disease, is self-con- 
ceit—it generally proceeds from ignorance—it is a species of pride to which the lives of 
thousands have been sacrificed. 2S. 46 
ETHICS. 
der, &c,, for which the penal statutes of this country have made 
sufficient provision. It is incumbent upon medical authorities to 
consider, condemn, and punish as criminal, such acts of medical 
practitioners as offend the respective obligations of married persons, 
or the chastity and modesty of the youth of both sexes. This re- 
strictive definition is to he applied, 
1st. To the personal conduct of medical men, who abuse the 
confidence of families, and become exposed to legal damages for 
crim. con. or seduction, dec. 
2d. To those who, with a view of curing diseases or correcting 
certain natural imperfections, prescribe remedies or advise remedial 
means that must interfere with matrimonial rights and the observ- 
ance of a chaste and moral life. 
The scope of opinion on this subject may be wide, and the pre- 
texts in palliation numerous, but the dependence of the public upon 
our labors, for the preservation of health, and the cure of diseases, 
ought to be held sacred ; nor can confidence be granted to a profes- 
sion that should allow any of its members to violate hospitality, to 
promote immorality, or to be accessary to vicious and criminal con- 
duct. 
XIII. Honor and justice particularly forbid a medical practition- 
er’s infringing upon the rights and privileges of another, who is 
legally accredited, and whose character is not impeached by public 
opinion, or civil or medical authority; whether he be a native, or a 
stranger settled in the country. There is no difference between 
physicians but such as results from their personal talents, medical 
acquirements, or their experience ; and the public, from the services 
they receive, are the natural judges of these intellectual advantages. 
In all probability, every good physician would receive a merited 
share of patronage, were there not many who usurp a portion 
through artful insinuations, and. slanders of others, or combinations 
against, or improper interferences with, the more worthy practi- 
tioner. Any physician thus molested or injured, is justifiable in 
applying for redress to the County Medical Society to which he is, 
attached. m 
s 
XIY. A physician is not to visit a patient placed under another 
practitioner’s care, without previous and ostensible friendship or 
business, or without first informing the attending physician ; if then 
he thinks it proper to advise, ho may do it, but it must be in confor- 
mity to the rules of consultation as above explained. E TIIICS. 
47 
XY. Libellous attacks among physicians are no doubt subject to 
the same mode of redress by damages as the law points out to other 
citizens; but we hold that matters of libel include professional and 
practical acts, whether true or false, published or stated to any per- 
son who is not a competent judge, with a view to injure the profes- 
sional reputation of a physician. This identical principle was 
adopted by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in the trial of 
Benjamin Bush vs. William Cobbett, alias Porcupine, in which a ver- 
dict of $4,000 damages was awarded to the plaintiff for a libel found- 
ed in a malicious representation of the plaintiff’s practice, made to 
the public by the defendant. 
XYI. If medical controversies are brought before the public in 
newspapers or pamphlets, by contending medical writers, and give 
rise to, or contain assertions or insinuations injurious to the personal 
character or professional qualifications of the parties, such papers 
are unquestionably disreputable to the medical community; for 
those who should be foremost in the pursuit of truth, ought to be 
the last to set an example of an illiberal, indecorous, and revengeful 
deportment, so contrary to what is expected from literary and scien- 
tific gentlemen. Such papers are therefore to be reported by the 
Censors to their respective County Medical Societies, and the authors 
are liable to such punishment as the cases may require. 
It is a matter of justice, necessity and propriety, that the business 
of a physician and surgeon should be always considered of a confi- 
dential nature. Even secrecy in certain circumstances, as will be 
explained hereafter, is the privilege of the Faculty, and inviolable 
even in a court of justice. In ordinary practice, common sense, 
decency and delicacy should, in familiar conversation with females 
and persons uninstructed in medicine, always exclude such topics as 
patients, diseases, remedies, operations, and the like. A display of 
terrific and wonderful relations of diseases, remedies, wounds, opera- 
tions, and cures, is frequently indulged in, no doubt ad captandum, 
yet in most cases they produce but unequivocal admiration for the 
narrator, and prove, beside, his very imperfect knoAvledge of human 
nature. Those who are not familiar with the subjects of medical art 
and study, are liable to draw mistaken and contradictory inferences 
from what they hear concerning them. Hence many people suppose 
that a physician is an unfeeling man; and assimilate a good surgeon 
to a butcher. The more talk, therefore, the more numerous the mis- 
representations set afloat, and the greater the diffidence, distrust, or 
disrespect excited. 48 
E T III C S . 
XVII. The exposure of the nature of the complaint which a phy- 
sician is called upon to judge or cure, subjecting the patient to public 
shame or impeaching his moral character, is an unpardonable breach 
of Medical Ethics. 
XVIII. “ The poor,” says Boerhaave, “ are the best customers, 
because God will be the paymaster.” Instead of fee, they give in 
exchange the benefit of experience, of useful observation, and fre- 
quently the gratification of successful advice, which is more exactly 
followed by them than by the rich, who too often spoil the best 
directions by their whimsical notions and love of comfort. The most 
lucrative and extended patronage a physician can enjoy, far from 
being an honorable pretext for not affording some attention to the 
poor, stands as a proof of his selfishness or want of humanity. 
XIX. In urgent cases of sickness, or of injuries occasioned by 
accidents, a call for medical or surgical help should be obeyed imme- 
diately, unless such compliance be to the detriment of some other 
sufferers. It often happens in such cases that many physicians, and 
more than are required, meet on the spot. Courtesy then assigns 
the patient to the first physician or surgeon who arrives, and if he 
should want assistance, he has a right to request it from a physician 
or practical surgeon present, according to the nature of the case. But 
when the physician or surgeon Avho usually attends the family or 
patient arrives, then the case is assigned to him. • 
In the event of the concurring attendance of many medical gen- 
tlemen, no fee is to be exacted for the trouble of coming, unless 
called upon by some authorized person. An accidental injury is 
distress, and help for a fellow-being in distress is claimed by the laws 
of nature.* 
XX. The fees for the compensation of medical services are regu- 
lated by the value of currency and the price of necessaries in differ- 
ent countries and cities; by the customs approved and established 
among experienced and reputable practitioners; and sometimes by a 
recorded rate of charges, such as individuals belonging to any trade 
or profession adopt by general consent. 
* Dr. Gregory says, (p. 179,) “ that under such circumstances considerations of benev- 
olence, humanity, and gratitude are wholly set aside; for when disputes arise, they must 
be suspended or extinguished ; and the question at issue can alone be decided on the 
1 principle of commutative justice.' If a physician would therefore contend for remune- 
ration, it could not be as a medical fee, but an indemnity only for expenses of transport- 
ing himself there, where he might be wanted. The question is the more easily settled, 
that it has no further reference to medical service.” ETHICS. 
49 
A strict sense of justice and honor towards each fellow-member 
of the profession, should prevent a physician from undervaluing his 
services, by items and charges in his hills, beneath the customary 
rate, with a view to draw patronage by exciting comparisons. A 
practitioner may settle his demands with his patrons on whatever 
terms he pleases, but he has no right to make the law, or change an 
established usage to the prejudice of his brethren. The reputation 
of a cheap doctor, after all, is neither dignified nor enviable. 
Others will follow quite a contrary method. They will place an 
exorbitant value 'on their time and labor, and exact oppressive de- 
mands for their services. The conduct of such has a very injurious 
influence upon the lower and middling classes of society, who, need- 
ing medical aid, are deterred from applying to any physician, lest 
they should incur ruinous charges. These expensive doctors should 
he reminded that whenever a person pays a bill which he thinks 
extravagant and unreasonable, he easily repays himself, and gratifies 
his vanity, if not his resentment, by divulging how much money he 
has been willing to bestow ; what liberality he has exercised : or to 
what imposition he has been exposed! 
Some physicians, more intent on acquiring wealth than a good 
name, exact from their patients their charges, whether great or 
small, with unrelenting severity, refusing time to procure the neces- 
sary means, often having recourse to law-suits, disregarding the plea 
of low circumstances, or absolute want, thus creating much dis- 
tress. Such conduct is as disreputable to the physician as it is 
disgraceful to humanity. These extortioners, as they dishonor the 
medical profession, by a single act of such oppression, deserve a 
public reprimand, if not a prompt expulsion from their County 
Medical Society. 
Whenever a physician is reduced to obtain his professional fees by 
compulsory measures, it is his duty first to propose and then to 
prefer the settlement of the matter in contention by a reference to 
arbitrators. 
XXI. It is enjoined in the sacred obligation which Hippocrates 
imposed upon the pupils of the noble science of medicine and sur- 
gery, which is also the model of the like engagement offered to the 
candidates for graduation in this and other countries,—that they 
shall respect and assist their preceptors and masters, their seniors by 
experience or age, and shall contribute, as far as in their power, to 
the honor, improvement, and utility of their professions. According 
to this precept, physicians and surgeons have something more to do 50 
ETHICS. 
than to procure their livelihood. As they are indebted to the 
labors, talents, and experience of their predecessors in the healing 
art for all that constitutes its admirable body of doctrine; so present 
and future generations look to them for some additional improve- 
ment, because much can yet be done to extend its usefulness. This 
obligation is unbecomingly violated by many physicians who pre- 
tend to eminence; they estrange themselves from medical associa- 
tions—never have any observation or improvement to communicate 
—their degree of skill and experience always remains unknown and 
mysterious—they screen themselves from scientific labors and con- 
troversies, and, as if incompetent, never contribute by any effort, 
however small, to the advancement of the medical character. Such 
practitioners, although they are frequently popular and wealthy, are, 
nevertheless, only comparable to drones in the bee-liive: medical 
associations should refuse to confer upon them offices, appointments, 
or even employments in committees; on the principle that proofs 
are wanting of their talents, zeal, judgment, and professional emu- 
lation. 
FIFTH DIVISION. 
FOREXSIO MEDICAL POLICE. 
XXII. There are numerous accidents and offences, the nature 
and degree of criminality of which are determined by medical opin- 
ion. Human passions daily occasion acts of violence which fall 
under the cognizance of public justice; and diseases of the mind, 
whether arising from vice, intemperance, sickness, or accident, have 
also their share of influence in the commission of crime ; and often 
lead their unfortunate victims to suicide and murder. Crime so 
originating could be perpetrated in ways so disguised as to conceal 
the authors or the means by which they were accomplished, were it 
not that juries can be assisted by medical men in evidence relating 
to physiology. A physician should always be in readiness to answer 
in these jurisdictional inquisitions, and to give an opinion, on facts 
referred to his judgment, according to the approved doctrines of 
medicine and surgery, as far as these are ascertained. Ignorance, or 
an imperfect knowledge upon matters which place life, honor, and 
innocence in a fatal predicament, is unpardonable, and should sub- 
ject any physician so illiterate, to disqualification for the privileges 
of his profession. ETHICS. 
51 
XXIII. To well-instructed physicians only two rules need to be 
recommended. The one relating to their conduct when they are 
called upon to give professional evidence; and the other, to the 
nature and extent of the secrecy which they are bound to maintain 
in relation to their patients. 
1st. When physicians engaged in the decision of a forensic ques- 
tion are unbiased by the parties, and have no interest for plaintiff or 
defendant, (being well informed of all the facts alleged in evidence,) 
they have only to decide by known medical principles, and can 
therefore rarely disagree. It is their duty to obtain every possible 
information upon the case, and before giving in their declaration, 
candidly and conscientiously to canvass each other’s opinions, so 
that erroneous ideas may be removed, and information participated.* 
Two or more physicians on one side of a question, should in the 
same manner freely communicate, in order to guard against versatile 
and contradictory declarations, for which the trivial sarcasm, “ doc- 
tors differ,” is no excuse, as they always invalidate their opinions, 
authority, decisions, and respectability. 
2d. The second rule is that of secrecy upon facts with which 
physicians become professionally acquainted, or are invited to ascer- 
tain : such as whether apparent pregnancy be real; the gestation 
and birth of a chijd; its parentage, color, and age: the judgment 
and treatment of syphilitic and gonorrhoeal diseases; the able or 
disabled state of a person, in limb or constitution; the fallacy of 
virginity and other circumstances, to the confession of which, a 
degree of shame, and the idea of exposure is attached, and which 
are never mentioned but with an engagement to secrecy. 
This duty has been defined by comparing it to that of the 
Catholic Confessional, which admits of no disclosures except in cases 
of treason or murder.t This inference has been acknowledged by 
the judiciary of New York, and, in its application to medical 
* When two or more gentlemen of the Faculty are to offer their opinions or testimony, 
it would sometimes tend to obviate contrariety if they would confer freely with each 
other before their public examination. 
[71 Percvcal, Med. Ethics, Ch. 4, p, 10". 
t The sacred duty or privilege of a Catholic priest not compellable to disclose the 
secrets of auricular confession, was maintained by a decision of the Court of Sessions 
of New York, 14th June, 1813. In the case of the Rev. Mr. K. refusing his testimony 
on a matter of felony. 
[ Vide Cathol. Quest. Report, by Wm. Sampson, Esq. 52 
ETHICS. 
matters, admitted by that of Philadelphia, in the year 1800;* and 
the Medical Society of the State of New York have adopted the 
same principle, so extended as to include felony. But this gneat 
privilege of the medical profession ought to be limited by discretion 
and regulated by a strong sense of moral duty; it should never he 
exercised to the injury of innocence, or the violation of the rights 
of justice, or when it might operate to the dishonor or distress of 
families. 
NOTE. 
The following Precept of Medical Police having been accidentally 
omitted in the Report of the Committee, and reinstated only 
after the adjournment of the State Medical Society, is here 
placed, under the authority which they have given for revision 
and notes. 
Physicians are often requested to declare to the patient his dan- 
ger, and to urge his observance of religious and testamentary acts : 
hut medical aid, in extremely dangerous cases, would seldom he of 
any avail, if, in place of composing the mind of the sufferer, physi- 
cians were to doom it to despondency and despair. Such services 
are incompatible with their duty of administering hope and comfort, 
without the influence of which, many doubtful cases of disease might 
at once become positively fatal. 
To a Christian minister alone, or to some other authorized person, 
therefore, appertains the task of disclosing to the patient his alarm- 
ing situation, and preparing his mind to meet with composure that 
event, which to his friends may appear inevitable. 
Physicians should not interfere in the final settlement of their 
patients’ worldly affairs. These are eventually composed of various 
family claims and pretensions; and a physician’s interference in 
* The same secrecy was vindicated to a physician (by a Superior Court of Philadel- 
phia, 1800,) refusing the disclosure of his professional acts, against a plaintiff suing for 
divorce, on the plea of adultery. 
Many persons would rather suffer or die, than be exposed to shame or disgrace from 
the complaints they are laboring under. It is a law of nature that they should seek for 
cure or relief, and be protected by professional secrecy, even if a matter of persecution 
should arise therefrom. \Committee. ETHICS. 
53 
their distribution may be taxed as arising from interested motives, 
or be thought by those concerned to be a disgraceful violation of the 
confidence reposed on his humane functions as medical attendant. 
In order to protect himself, and to place his name beyond the 
reach of any implication, he should, 
1st. Give timely and explicit information of the dangerous situa- 
tion of the patient to those who have the best right to advise him in 
his religious and temporal concerns. 
2d. He should inform them of a possibility of a change in the 
prognostic, in order to prevent any relaxation of care and attention 
on the part of nurses and others, that no chances of the patient’s 
recovery be lost through neglect. 
3d. The physician in such a case should continue his personal 
attendance, which is the more proper, as he entertains or has 
acknowledged some hopes of a favorable change: should he be 
dismissed from pecuniary motives, his responsibility nevertheless 
requires a friendly or gratuitous attention.* 
* “ It is a3 much the business of a physician to alleviate pain and to smooth the 
avenues of death, when unavoidable, as to cure diseases.” — [ Vide 7, Gregory's 
Lectures, Lond. ed.,p. 35, and Benj. Bush's Appendix on the Duties of a Physician, 
Art. XI. CODE OF ETHICS 
OF TIIE 
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 
ADOPTED BY THE 
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE COUNTY OF KINGS, 
JULY 12, 1848. 
This Code of Ethics was adopted by the Society, in addition to their former excellent 
Code, in compliance with a resolution of the American Medical Association, requiring 
all State or Local Societies to do so, who desired to be represented in that body. CODE OF MEDICAL ETHICS. 
OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO THEIE PATIENTS, AND OF 
THE OBLIGATIONS OF PATIENTS TO THEIE PHYSICIANS. 
ARTICLE I. 
DUTIES OF PIIYSICIANS TO THEIE PATIENTS. 
§ 1. A physician should not only be ever ready to obey the calls 
of the sick, hut his mind ought also to be imbued with the greatness 
of his mission, and the responsibility he habitually incurs in its dis- 
charge. Those obligations are the more deep and enduring, because 
there is no tribunal, other than his own conscience, to adjudge 
penalties, for carelessness or neglect. Physicians should, therefore, 
minister to the sick with due impressions of the importance of their 
office; reflecting that the ease, the health, and the lives; of those 
committed to their charge, depend on their skill, attention, and 
fidelity. They should study, also, in their deportment, so to unite 
tenderness with firmness, and condescension with authority, as to 
inspire the minds of their patients with gratitude, respect, and 
confidence. 
§ 2. Every case committed to the charge of a physician, should 
be treated with attention, steadiness, and humanity. Reasonable 
indulgence should be granted to the mental imbecility and caprices 
of the sick. Secrecy and delicacy, when required by peculiar cir- 
cumstances, should be strictly observed; and the familiar and confi- 
dential intercourse to which physicians are admitted, in their profes- 
sional visits, should be used with discretion, and with the most 
scrupulous regard to fidelity and honor. The obligation of secrecy 
extends beyond the period of professional services: none of the 58 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
privacies of personal and domestic life, no infirmity of disposition, or 
flaw of character, observed during professional attendance, should 
ever he divulged by the physician, except when he is imperatively 
required to do so. The force, and necessity, of this obligation, are 
indeed so great, that professional men have, under certain circum- 
stances, been protected in their observance of secrecy, by courts 
of justice. 
§ 3. Frequent visits to the sick are in general requisite, since 
they enable the physician to arrive at a more perfect knowledge 
of the disease; to meet promptly every change which may occur; 
and also tend to preserve the confidence of the patient. But unne- 
cessary visits are to be avoided, as they give useless anxiety to the 
patient, tend to diminish the authority of the physician, and render 
him liable to be suspected of interested motives. 
§ 4. A physician should not be forward to make gloomy prognos- 
tications, because they savor of empiricism, by magnifying the im- 
portance of his services, in the treatment or cure of the disease. 
But he should not fail, on proper occasions, to give to the friends of 
the patient timely notice of danger, when it really occurs; and 
even to the patient himself, if absolutely necessary. This office, 
however, is so peculiarly alarming when executed by him, that it 
ought to be declined whenever it can be assigned to any other 
person of sufficient judgment and delicacy. For, the physician 
should be the minister of hope and comfort to the sick; that, by 
such cordials to the drooping spirit, he may smooth the bed of 
death, revive expiring life, and counteract the depressing influence 
of those maladies which often disturb the tranquillity of the most 
resigned, in their last moments. The life of a sick person can be 
shortened not only by the acts, but also by the words, or the man- 
ner, of a physician. It is therefore a sacred duty to guard himself 
carefully in this respect, and to avoid all things which have a ten- 
dency to discourage the patient, and to depress his spirits. 
§ 5. A physician ought not to abandon a patient because the case 
is deemed incurable: for his attendance may continue to be highly 
useful to the patient, and comforting to the relatives around him, 
even in the last period of a fatal malady, by alleviating pain and 
other symptoms, and by soothing mental anguish. To decline 
attendance, under such circumstances, would be sacrificing to fan- 
ciful delicacy and mistaken liberality, that moral duty, which 
is independent of, and far superior to, all pecuniary consider- 
ation. 59 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
§ 6. Consultations should be promoted in difficult or protracted 
cases, as they give rise to confidence, energy, and more enlarged 
views in practice. 
§ 7. The opportunity which a physician not unfrequently enjoys, 
of promoting and strengthening the good resolutions of his patients, 
suffering under the consequences of vicious conduct, ought never to 
be neglected. His counsels, or even remonstrances, will give satis- 
faction, not offence, if they be proffered with politeness, and evince 
a genuine love of virtue, accompanied by a sincere interest in the 
welfare of the person to whom they are addressed. 
ARTICLE II. 
OBLIGATIONS OF PATIENTS TO TIIEIK PHYSICIANS. 
§ 1. The members of the medical profession, upon whom is 
enjoined the performance of so many important and arduous duties 
towards the community, and Avho are required to make so many 
sacrifices of comfort, ease, and health, for the welfare of those who 
avail themselves of their services, certainly have a right to expect, 
and require, that their patients should entertain a just sense of the 
duties which they owe to their medical attendants. 
§ 2. The first duty of a patient is, to select as his medical adviser 
one who has received a regular professional education. In no trade 
or occupation, do mankind rely on the skill of an untaught artist; 
and in medicine, confessedly the most difficult and intricate of the 
sciences, the world ought not to suppose that knowledge is 
intuitive. 
§ 3. Patients should prefer a physician whose habits of life are 
regular, and who is not devoted to company, pleasure, or to any 
pursuit incompatible with his professional obligations. 
A patient should, also, confide the care of himself and family, as 
much as possible, to one physician; for a medical man who has 
become acquainted with the peculiarities of constitution, habits, and 
predispositions of those he attends, is more likely to be successful in 
his treatment, than one who does not possess that knowledge. 
A patient who has thus selected his physician, should always 
apply for advice in what may appear to him trivial cases; for the 
most fatal results often supervene on the slightest accidents. It is 60 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
of still more importance that lie should apply for assistance in the 
forming stage of violent diseases; it is to a neglect of this precept 
that medicine owes much of the uncertainty and imperfection with 
which it has been reproached. 
§ 4. Patients should faithfully and unreservedly communicate to 
their physician the supposed cause of their disease. This is the 
more important, as many diseases of a mental origin simulate those 
depending on external causes, and yet are only to he cured by min- 
istering to the “ mind diseased.” A patient should never be afraid 
of thus making his physician his friend and adviser; he should 
always bear in mind that a medical man is under the strongest obli- 
gations of secrecy. Even the female sex should never allow feelings 
of shame or delicacy to prevent their disclosing the seat, symptoms, 
and causes of complaints peculiar to them. However commendable 
a modest reserve may be in the common occurrences of life, its 
strict observance in medicine is often attended with the most serious 
consequences; and a patient may sink under a painful and loath- 
some disease, which might have been readily prevented, had timely 
intimation been given to the physician. 
§ 5. A patient should never weary his physician with a tedious 
detail of events or matters not appertaining to his disease. Even as 
relates to his actual symptoms, he will convey much more real 
information by giving clear answers to interrogatories, than by the 
most minute account of his own framing. Neither should he ob- 
trude upon his physician the details of his business, nor the history 
of his family concerns. 
§ 6. The obedience of a patient to the prescriptions of his phy- 
sician should be prompt and implicit. lie should never permit his 
own crude opinions as to their fitness, to influence his attention to 
them. A failure in one particular, may render an otherwise judi- 
cious treatment dangerous, and even fatal. 
This remark is equally applicable to diet, drink, and exercise. As 
patients become convalescent, they are very apt to suppose that the 
rules prescribed for them may be disregarded, and the consequence, 
but too often, is a relapse. Patients should never allow themselves 
to be persuaded to take any medicine whatever, that may be recom- 
mended to them by the self-constituted doctors and doctresses, who 
are so frequently met with, and who pretend to possess infallible 
remedies for the cure of every disease. However simple some of 
their prescriptions may appear to be, it often happens that they are 61 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
productive of much mischief; and in all cases they are injurious, by 
contravening the plan of treatment adopted by the physician. 
§7. A patient should, if possible, avoid even the friendly visits 
of a physician who is not attending him; and when he does receive 
them, he should never converse on the subject of his disease, as an 
observation may be made, without any intention of interference, 
which may destroy his confidence in the course he is pursuing, and 
induce him to neglect the directions prescribed to him. A patient 
should never send for a consulting physician without the express 
consent of his own medical attendant. It is of great importance 
that physicians should act in concert; for, although their modes 
of treatment may be attended with equal success when employed 
singly, yet conjointly they are very likely to be productive of disas- 
trous results. 
§ 8. When a patient wishes to dismiss his physician, justice and com- 
mon courtesy require that he should declare his reasons for so doing. 
§ 9. Patients should always, when practicable, send for their 
physician in the morning, before his usual hour of going out; for, 
by being early aware of the visits he has to pay during the day, the 
physician is able to apportion his time in such a manner as to pre- 
vent an interference of engagements. Patients should also avoid calling 
on their medical adviser unnecessarily during the hours devoted to 
meals or sleep. They should always be in readiness to receive the 
visits of their physician, as the detention of a few minutes is often 
of serious inconvenience to him. 
§ 10. A patient should, after his recovery, entertain a just and 
enduring sense of the value of the services rendered him by his 
physician; for these are of such a character, that no mere pecu- 
niary acknowledgment can repay or cancel them. 
OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO EACH OTHER, AND TO THE 
PROFESSION AT LARGE. 
ARTICLE I. 
DUTIES FOR THE SUPPORT OF PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER. 
§ 1. Every individual, on entering the profession, as he becomes 
thereby entitled to all its privileges and immunities, incurs an obli- 
gation to exert bis best abilities to maintain its dignity and honor, to 62 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
exalt its standing, and to extend the bounds of its usefulness. He 
should, therefore, observe strictly such laws as are instituted for 
the government of its members; should avoid all contumelious and 
sarcastic remarks relative to the Faculty, as a body; and while, by 
unwearied diligence, he resorts to every honorable means of enrich- 
ing the science, he should entertain a due respect for his seniors, 
who have, by their labors, brought it to the elevated condition in 
which he finds it. 
§ 2. There is no profession, from the members of which greater 
purity of character, and a higher standard of moral excellence, are 
required, than the medical; and to attain such eminence, is a duty 
every physician owes alike to his profession and to his patients. It 
is due to the latter, as without it he cannot command their respect 
and confidence; and to both, because no scientific attainments can 
compensate for want of correct moral principles. It is also incumbent 
upon the Faculty to be temperate in all things ; for the practice of 
physic requires the unremitting exercise of a clear and vigorous 
understanding; and, on emergencies, for which no professional man 
should be unprepared, a steady hand, an acute eye, and an unclouded 
head, may be essential to the well-being, and even to the life, of a 
fellow-creature. 
§ 3. It is derogatory to the dignity of the profession to resort to 
public advertisements, or private cards, or handbills, inviting the 
attention of individuals affected with particular diseases—publicly 
offering advice and medicine to the poor gratis, or promising radical 
cures; or to publish cases and operations in the daily prints, or 
suffer such publications to be made; to invite laymen to be present 
at operations; to boast of cures and remedies; to adduce certifi- 
cates of skill and success; or to perform any other similar acts. 
These are the ordinary practices of empirics, and are highly repre- 
hensible in a regular physician. 
§ 4. Equally derogatory to professional character is it, for a 
physician to hold a patent for any surgical instrument or medicine ; 
or to dispense a secret nostrum, whether it be the composition or 
exclusive property of himself or of others. For, if such nostrum 
be of real efficacy, any concealment regarding it is inconsistent with 
beneficence, and professional liberality; and, if mystery alone give 
it value and importance, such craft implies either disgraceful igno- 
rance or fraudulent avarice. It is also reprehensible for physicians 
to give certificates attesting the efficacy of patent or secret medi- 
cines, or in any way to promote the use of them. CODE OF ETHICS. 
63 
ARTICLE II. 
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OF PHYSICIANS TO EACH OTnER. 
§ 1. All practitioners of medicine, their wives, and their chil- 
dren, while under the paternal care, are entitled to the gratuitous 
services of any one or more of the Faculty residing near them, 
whose assistance may be desired. A physician afflicted with dis- 
ease is usually an incompetent judge of his own case; and the 
natural anxiety and solicitude which he experiences at the sickness 
of a a child, or any one who, by the ties of consanguinity, is 
rendered peculiarly dear to him, tend to obscure his judgment, 'and 
produce timidity and irresolution in his practice. Under such cir- 
cumstances, medical men are peculiarly dependent upon each other, 
and kind offices, and professional aid, should always be cheerfully 
and gratuitously afforded. Visits ought not, however, to be obtruded 
officiously; as such unasked civility may give rise to embarrassment, 
or interfere with that choice, on which confidence depends. But, if 
a distant member of the Faculty, whose circumstances are affluent, 
request attendance, and an honorarium be offered, it should not be 
declined; for no pecuniary obligation ought to be imposed, which 
the party receiving it would wish not to incur. 
ARTICLE III. 
OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS AS RESPECTS VICARIOUS OFFICES. 
§ 1. The affairs of life, the pursuit of health, and the various 
accidents and contingencies to which a medical man is peculiarly 
exposed, sometimes require him temporarily to withdraw from his 
duties to his patients, and to request some of his professional 
brethren to officiate for him. Compliance with this request is an 
act of courtesy, which should always be performed with the utmost 
consideration for the interest and character of the family physician; 
and when exercised for a short period, all the pecuniary obligations 
for such service should be awarded to him. But if a member of 
the profession neglect his business in quest of pleasure and amuse- 
ment, he cannot be considered as entitled to the advantages of the 
frequent and long-continued exercise of this fraternal courtesy, with- 
out awarding to the physician who officiates the fees arising from 
the discharge of his professional duties. 64 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
In obstetrical, and important surgical cases, which give rise to 
unusual fatigue, anxiety, and responsibility, it is just that the fees 
accruing therefrom, should be awarded to the physician who 
officiates. 
ARTICLE IV. 
OP THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS IN REGARD TO CONSULTATIONS. 
§ 1. A regular medical education furnishes the only presumptive 
evidence of professional abilities and acquirements, and ought to he 
the. only acknowledged right of an individual to the exercise and 
honors of his profession. Nevertheless, as in consultations the good 
of the patient is the sole object in view, and tin's is often dependent 
on personal confidence, no intelligent regular practitioner, who has 
a license to practice from some Medical Board of known and ac- 
knowledged respectability, recognized by this Association, and who 
is in good moral and professional standing in the place in which he 
resides, should be fastidiously excluded from fellowship, or his aid 
refused in consultation, when it is requested by the patient. But 
no one can be considered as a regular practitioner, or a fit associate 
in consultation, whose practice is based on an exclusive dogma, to 
the rejection of the accumulated experience of the profession, and 
of the aids actually furnished by anatomy, physiology, pathology, 
and organic chemistry. 
§ 2. In consultations, no rivalship or jealousy should be indulged: 
candor, probity, and all due respect should be exercised towards the 
physician having charge of the case. 
§ 3. In consultations, the attending physician should be the first 
to propose the necessary questions to the sick; after which, the 
consulting physician should have the opportunity to make such far- 
ther inquiries of the patient as may be necessary to satisfy him 
of the true character of the case. Both physicians should then 
retire to a private place for deliberation; and the one first in 
attendance should communicate the directions agreed upon to the 
patient or his friends, as well as any opinions which it may be 
thought proper to express. 
But no statement or discussion of it should take place before the 
patient or his friends, except in the presence of all the Faculty 
attending, and by their common consent; and no opinions or prog- 
nostications should be delivered, which are not the result of previous 
deliberation and concurrence. CODE OF ETHICS. 
65 
§ 4. Ia consultations, the physician in attendance should deliver 
his opinion first; and when there are several consulting, they 
should deliver their opinions in the order in which they have been 
called in. No decision, however, should restrain the attending phy- 
sician from making such variations in the mode of treatment, as 
any subsequent unexpected change in the character of the case may 
demand. But such variation, and the reasons for it, ought to he 
carefully detailed at the next meeting in consultation. The same 
privilege belongs also to the consulting physician, if he is sent for 
in an emergency, when the regular attendant is out of the Avay; 
and similar explanations must he made by him at the next con- 
sultation. 
§ 5. The utmost punctuality should be observed in the visits 
of physicians, when they are to hold consultation together; and 
this is generally practicable, for society has been considerate enough 
to allow the plea of a professional engagement to take precedence 
of all others, and to be an ample reason for the relinquishment of 
any present occupation. 
But, as professional engagements may sometimes interfere, and 
delay one of the parties, the physician who first arrives should wait 
for his associate a reasonable period, after which the consultation 
should be considered as postponed to a new appointment. If it be 
the attending physician who is present, he will of course see the 
patient and prescribe; but if it be the consulting one, he should 
retire, except in case of emergency, or when he has been called 
from a considerable distance ; in which latter case, he may examine 
the patient, and give his opinion in writing, and under seal, to be 
delivered to his associate. 
§ G. In consultations, theoretical discussions should he avoided, 
as occasioning perplexity and loss of time. For there may be much 
diversity of opinion concerning speculative points, with perfect 
agreement in those modes of practice which are founded, not on 
hypothesis, but on experience and observation. 
§ 7. All discussions in consultation should be held as secret and 
confidential. Neither by words nor manner should any of the 
parties to a consultation assert or insinuate, that any part of the 
treatment pursued did not receive his assent. The responsibility 
must be equally divided between the medical attendants — they 
must equally share the credit of success, as well as the blame of 
failure. 66 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
§ 8. Should an irreconcilable diversity of opinion occur when 
several physicians are called upon to consult together, the opinion 
of the majority should be considered as decisive; but, if the num- 
bers be equal on each side, then the decision should rest with the 
attending physician. It may, moreover, sometimes happen, that 
two physicians cannot agree in their views of the nature of a case, 
and the treatment to be pursued. This is a circumstance much to 
be deplored, and should always be avoided, if possible, by mutual 
concessions, as far as they can be justified by a conscientious regard 
for the dictates of judgment. But, in the event of its occurrence, a 
third physician should, if practicable, be called to act as umpire; 
and if circumstances prevent the adoption of this course, it must 
be left to the patient to select the physician in whom he is most 
willing to confide. 
But, as every physician relies on the rectitude of his judgment, 
he should, when left in the minority, politely and consistently retire 
from any farther deliberation in the consultation, or participation in 
the management of the case. 
§ 9. As circumstances sometimes occur to render a special 
consultation desirable, when the continued attendance of two physi- 
cians might be objectionable to the patient, the member of the 
Faculty whose assistance is required in such cases, should sedu- 
lously guard against all future unsolicited attendance. As such 
consultations require an extraordinary portion both of time and 
attention, at least a double honorarium may be reasonably 
expected. 
§ 10. A physician who is called upon to consult, should observe 
the most honorable and scrupulous regard for the character and 
standing of the practitioner in attendance ; the practice of the latter, 
if necessary, should be justified as far as it can be, consistently 
with a conscientious regard for truth, and no hint or insinuation 
should be thrown out which could impair the confidence reposed 
in him, or afFect his reputation. The consulting physician should 
also carefully refrain from any of those extraordinary attentions or 
assiduities, which are too often practiced by the dishonest, for the 
base purpose of gaining applause, or ingratiating themselves into the 
favor of families and individuals. CODE OF ETHICS. 
67 
ACTICLE Y. 
DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS IN' CASES OF INTEKFEKENCE. 
§ 1. Medicine is a liberal profession, and those admitted into its 
ranks should found their expectations of practice upon the extent 
of their qualifications, not on intrigue or artifice. 
§ 2. A physician, in his intercourse with a patient under the care 
of another practitioner, should observe the strictest caution and 
reserve. Mo meddling inquiries should be made—no disingenuous 
hints given relative to the nature and treatment of his disorder; 
nor any course of conduct pursued that may directly or indirectly 
tend to diminish the trust reposed in the physician employed. 
§ 3. The same circumspection and reserve should be observed 
when, from motives of business or friendship, a physician is prompt- 
ed to visit an individual who is under the direction of another prac- 
titioner. Indeed, such visits should be avoided, except under pecu- 
liar circumstances ; and when they are made, no particular inquiries 
should be instituted relative to the nature of the disease, or the 
remedies employed, but the topics of conversation should be as 
foreign to the case as circumstances will admit. 
§ 4. A physician ought not to take charge of or prescribe for a 
patient who has recently been under the care of another member of 
the Faculty in the same illness, except in cases of sudden emergency, 
or in consultation with the physician previously in attendance, or 
when the latter has relinquished the case, or been regularly notified 
that his services are no longer desired. Under such circumstances, 
no unjust and illiberal insinuations should he thrown out in relation 
to the conduct or practice previously pursued, which should be justi- 
fied as far as candor and regard for truth and probity will permit: 
for it often happens that patients become dissatisfied when they do 
not experience immediate relief; and, as many diseases are naturally 
protracted, the want of success, in the first stage of treatment, affords 
no evidence of a lack of professional knowledge and skill. 
§ 5. When' a physician is called to an urgent case, because the 
family attendant is not at hand, he ought, unless his assistance in 
consultation be desired, to resign the care of the patient to the 
latter immediately on his arrival. 
§ 6. It often happens, in cases of sudden illness, or of recent 
accidents and injuries, owing to the alarm and anxiety of friends, 68 
CODE OF ETHICS. 
that a number of physicians are simultaneously sent for. Under 
these circumstances, courtesy should assign the patient to, the first 
who arrives, who should select from those present, any additional 
assistance that he may deem necessary. In all such cases, lioiv- 
ever, the practitioner who officiates should request the family phy- 
sician, if there be one, to be called; and, unless his farther attend- 
ance be requested, should resign the case to the latter on his 
arrival. 
§ 7. When a physician is called to the patient of another prac- 
titioner, in consequence of the sickness or absence of the latter, he 
ought, on the return or recovery of the regular attendant, and with 
the consent of the patient, to surrender the case. 
*■ § 8. A physician, when visiting a sick person ii7 tlie 
may be desired to see a neighboring patient who is under the 
regular direction of another physician, in consequence of some sud- 
den change or aggravation of symptoms. The conduct to be pur- 
sued on such an occasion is to give advice adapted to present 
circumstances; to interfere no farther than is absolutely necessary 
with the general plan of treatment; to assume no further direction, 
unless it be expressly desired; and, in this last case, to request an 
immediate consultation with the practitioner previously employed. 
§ 9. A wealthy physician should not give advice gratis to the 
affluent; because his doing so is an injury to his professional 
brethren. The office of a physician can never be supported as an 
exclusively beneficent one; and it is defrauding, in some degree, the 
common funds for its support, when fees are dispensed which might 
justly be claimed. 
§ 10. When a physician who lias been engaged to attend a case 
.of midwifery is absent, and another is sent for, if delivery is accom- 
plished during the attendance of the latter, he is entitled to the 
fee, but should resign the patient to the practitioner first engaged. 
ARTICLE YI. 
OF D1FFEKENCES BETWEEN PHYSICIANS. 
§ 1. Diversity of opinion, and opposition of interest, may, in 
the medical, as in other professions, sometimes occasion contro- 
versy, and even contention. Whenever such cases unfortunately CODE OF ETHICS. 
69 
occur, and cannot be immediately terminated, they should be refer- 
red to the arbitration of a sufficient number of physicians, or a 
Court Medical. 
9 
§ 2. As peculiar reserve must be maintained by physicians towards 
the public, in regard to professional matters; and as there exist 
numerous points in medical ethics and etiquette, through which the 
feelings of medical men may be painfully assailed in their inter- 
course with each other, and which cannot be understood or appre- 
ciated by general society, neither the subject-matter of such 
differences, nor the adjudication of the arbitrators, should be made 
public ; as publicity in a case of this nature may be personally inju- 
rious to the individuals concerned, and can hardly fail to bring 
discredit on the Faculty. 
ARTICLE VII. 
OF PECUNIAEY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 
Some general rules should be adopted by the Faculty, in every 
town or district, relative to pecuniary acknowledgments from their 
patients; and it should be deemed a point of honor to adhere to 
these rules with as much uniformity as varying circumstances will 
admit. 
OF THE DUTIES OF THE PROFESSION TO THE PUBLIC, AND OF 
THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE PUBLIC TO THE PROFESSION. 
ARTICLE I. 
DUTIES OF THE PEOFESSION TO TIIE PUBLIC. 
§ 1. As good citizens, it is the duty of physicians to be ever 
vigilant for the welfare of the community, and to bear their part in 
sustaining its institutions and burdens; they should also be ever 
ready to give counsel to the public in relation to matters especially 
appertaining to their profession; as on subjects of medical police, 
public hygiene, and legal medicine. It is their province to enlighten 70 
CODE OF ETHIC'S. 
the public in regard to quarantine regulations—the location, ar- 
rangement, and dietaries of hospitals, asylums, schools, prisons, and 
similar institutions—in relation to the medical police of towns, as 
drainage, ventilation, &c.—and in regard to measures for the pre- 
vention of epidemic and contagious diseases; and when pestilence 
prevails, it is their duty to face the danger, and to continue their 
labors for the alleviation of the sutfering, even at the jeopardy of 
their own lives. 
§ 2. Medical men should also be always ready, when called on 
by the legally constituted authorities, to enlighten Coroners’ in- 
quests, and courts of justice, on subjects strictly medical—such as 
involve questions relating to sanity, legitimacy, murder by poisons 
or other violent means, and in regard to the various other subjects 
embraced in the science of Medical Jurisprudence. But in these 
cases, and especially where they are required to make a post-mortem, 
examination, it is just, in consequence of the time, labor, and skill 
required, and the responsibility and risk they incur, that the public 
should award them a proper honorarium. 
§ 3. There is no profession, by the members of which eleemo- 
synary services are more liberally dispensed than the medical; but 
justice requires that some limits should be placed to the perform- 
ance of such good offices. Poverty, professional brotherhood, and 
certain of the public duties referred to in the first section of this 
Article, should always be recognized as presenting valid claims for 
gratuitous services ; but neither institutions endowed by the public, 
or by rich individuals; societies for mutual benefit, for the insurance 
of lives, or for analogous purposes; nor any profession or occupa- 
tion, can be admitted to possess such privilege. Nor can it be 
justly expected of physicians to furnish certificates of inability to 
serve on juries, to perform militia duty, or to testify to the state 
of health of persons wishing to insure their lives, obtain pensions, 
or the like, without a pecuniary acknowledgment. But to individ- 
uals in indigent circumstances, such professional services shoxdd 
always be cheerfully and freely accorded. 
§ 4. It is the duty of physicians, Avho are frequent witnesses 
of the enormities committed by quackery, and the injury to health, 
and even destruction of life, caused by the use of quack medicines, 
to enlighten the public on these subjects; to expose the injuries 
sustained by the unwary, from the devices and pretensions of artful 
empirics and impostors. Physicians ought to use all the influence 
which they may possess, as professors in Colleges of Pharmacy, and by CODE OF ETHICS. 
71 
exercising their option in regard to the shops to which their pre- 
scriptions shall be sent, to discourage druggists and apothecaries 
from vending quack or secret medicines; or from being in any way 
engaged in their manufacture and sale. 
ARTICLE II. 
OBLIGATION’S OF TIIE PUBLIC TO PHYSICIANS. 
§ 1. The benefits accruing to the public, directly and indirectly, 
from the active and unwearied beneficence of the profession, are so 
numerous and important, that physicians are justly entitled to the 
utmost consideration and respect from the community. The public 
ought likewise to entertain a just appreciation of medical qualifi- 
cations ; to make a proper discrimination between true science and 
the assumptions of ignorance and empiricism; to afford every 
encouragement and facility for the acquisition of medical education ; 
and no longer to allow the statute-books to exhibit the anomaly 
of exacting knowledge from physicians, under a liability to heavy 
penalties, and of making them obnoxious to punishment, for resort- 
ing to the only means of obtaining it.