Editorial April 2, 1910 Issue

"AN INVASION OF PERSONAL LIBERTIES."

Archibald McLellan

The question of medical legislation in one or another of the various phases it annually assumes, is, as usual at this season, receiving the attention of the unprejudiced newspapers of the country, and we note among them an editorial in the Toledo (O.) Times, apropos of a bill now pending in the Ohio Legislature, which discusses the matter from the broad ground of personal rights and in a manner which must appeal to parents who have the welfare of their children at heart. The Times says:—

Among the many legislative measures introduced at this session of the General Assembly, it is noteworthy that several medical bills have appeared, all of them having for their avowed object the protection of the health of the people. Without in the least desiring to disparage the profession as a whole, it would seem that some of these bills deserve rather careful scrutiny and analysis with a view to discovering their real purpose.

House Bill 408, which has been referred to the committee on common schools, is a measure which should be examined carefully by all vigilant citizens. It is entitled "A bill relating to the health of school children." It provides for the compulsory examination of all school children by an officially appointed school physician. That there is much and varied opposition to this measure, from all classes, is already apparent. At a recent public before the Hamilton county delegation, at Cincinnati, Dr. C. A. L. Reed, one of the best known surgeons in Ohio, opposed the bill as it now stands, on the ground that it was an invasion of personal liberties. In this opinion, most parents will concur, and the general belief is that House Bill 408 is entirely unnecessary and dangerous. No parent would relish the idea of having the health board, or the school board, or the teacher dictate the school of medicine under which their children must be treated, or the particular physician who should administer the prescribed remedies of that school.... Aside from providing new offices for physicians, there is little in this bill which cannot be carried out under the law as it now exists....

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