Has the state the right to interfere in a case of sickness and prescribe the method of treatment?
This question, or the substance of it, in one form or another, is much discussed at the present time, and particularly before the legislatures of the different states where bills for the regulation of the practice of medicine are being urged upon the attention of the law-makers. The ground upon which state interference is urged, and the only one upon which it could properly be invoked, is, that the welfare of the individual demands it; that there are many persons unqualified to treat disease who are attempting to do so, and who are a menace to the welfare of the community; and that, as a matter of fact, because of the practice of these unqualified persons, people are injured physically, and frequently hurried to an untimely grave; that these people practise not only without the knowledge of scientific principles in regard to the nature and treatment of diseases, but in direct defiance thereof. Such are the pleas made by those who urge upon our law-makers the necessity for protecting the people against those whom the authors of these bills consider unfit to practise medicine or attempt to heal or treat disease.
It is well known that these bills all have their origin with the physicians of the country who adhere to the practice of materia medica. It is safe to say that the instance of a bill originating from any other source has not yet come to light. It is not, therefore, any injustice to the medical profession to say that they are responsible for these attempts, and that whatever legislation there is along this line is the result of their efforts to control and prescribe the methods of treatment in cases of sickness. This naturally arrays them as a class against all who reject the theories and practice of materia medica, especially when they insist that other methods are fully as efficacious in their results, if not more so. Particularly is this true at the present time when there are so large a number practising the art of healing who reject all drugs and material means of all kinds, and rely entirely upon mental treatment to effect physical healing. And so the conflict is waged.
