Board of Examiners.—The board of medical examiners is composed of seven practising physicians of known ability and integrity, graduates of some medical school, college, or university duly established under and by virtue of the laws of the country in which it is situated, four allopathic members, three homœopathic members, and one eclectic member (Compiled Laws 1884, s. 2,553).
Qualification.—Applications for certificates and examinations are made to the board through their secretary (ib., s. 2,555).
The board must examine diplomas as to their genuineness; the verification consists in an affidavit of the holder and applicant that he is the lawful possessor of the diploma and the person therein named; the affidavit may be taken before any person authorized to administer oaths, and shall be attested under his hand and official seal if he have a seal. Graduates may present their diplomas and affidavits by letter or by proxy (ib., s. 2,556).
Examinations of persons not graduates or licentiates must be made by the board, and certificates by a majority of the board authorize the possessor to practise medicine and surgery (ib., s. 2,557).
The certificate must be recorded in the county clerk’s office in every county in which the holder practises or attempts to practise medicine or surgery (ib., s. 2,558).
When a certificate is filed, the clerk must record it and attach his certificate thereto, showing the date of filing and recording and the number of the book and the page of the record (ib., s. 2,559).
Examinations of persons not graduates must be made by the board and may be wholly or partly in writing, in anatomy, physiology, chemistry, pathology, surgery, obstetrics, and the practice of medicine (exclusive of materia medica and therapeutics) (ib., s. 2,561).
The board may refuse or revoke a certificate to an individual guilty of unprofessional or dishonorable conduct (ib., s. 2,562).
Definition, Exceptions.—Practising medicine is defined as professing publicly to be a physician and prescribing for the sick or appending to a name the letters “M.D.” The act does not prohibit students from prescribing under the supervision of a preceptor, nor prevent women from practising midwifery, nor prohibit gratuitous services in cases of emergency, nor apply to commissioned surgeons or acting surgeons of the United States army or navy (ib., s. 2,563).
Penalty.—Practising medicine or surgery without complying with the act is punishable with a fine of from $50 to $500 for each offence; and filing a diploma or a certificate of another, or a forged affidavit of identification, is a felony punishable the same as forgery.