Facts of the Case
This case comes from the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. It involves the validity of the statute of that State which requires every practitioner of medicine in it to obtain a certificate from the state board of health that he is a graduate of a reputable medical college in the school of medicine to which he belongs, or that he has practiced medicine in the State continuously for the period of 10 years prior to the 8th day of March, 1881, or that he has been found, upon examination by the board, to be qualified to practice medicine in all its departments, and makes the practice of, or the attempt by any person to practice, medicine, surgery, or obstetrics in the State without such certificate, unless called from another State to treat a particular case, a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of the court. The statute in question is found in §§ 9 and 15 of an act of the State, c. 93, passed March 15, 1882, amending a chapter of its Code concerning the public health. St. 1882, pp. 245, 246, 248. These sections are as follows: "SEC. 9. The following persons, and no others, shall hereafter be permitted to practice medicine in this State, viz.: " "First. All persons who are graduates of a reputable medical college in the school of medicine to which the person desiring to practice belongs. Every such person shall, if he has not already done so and obtained the certificate hereinafter mentioned, present his diploma to the State Board of Health, or to the two members thereof in his congressional district, and if the same is found to be genuine, and was issued by such medical college, as is hereinafter mentioned, and the person presenting the same be the graduate named therein, the said Board, or said two members thereof, (as the case may be) shall issue and deliver to him a certificate to that effect, and such diploma and certificate shall entitle the person named in such diploma to practice medicine in all its departments in this State."
Conclusions
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The statute of West Virginia (§§ 9 and 15, chapter 93, 1882) which requires every practitioner of medicine in the State to obtain a certificate from the State Board of Health that he is a graduate of a reputable medical college in the school of medicine to which he belongs, or that he has practiced medicine in the State continuously for ten years prior to March 8, 1881, or that he has been found upon examination to be qualified to practice medicine in all its departments, and which subjects a person practicing without such certificate to prosecution and punishment for a misdemeanor, does not, when enforced against a person who had been a practicing physician in the State for a period of five years before 1881, without a diploma of a reputable medical college in the school of medicine to which he belonged, deprive him of his estate or interest in the profession without due process of law. The State, in the exercise of its power to provide for the general welfare of its people, may exact from parties before they can practice medicine a degree of skill and learning in that profession upon which the community employing their services may confidently rely, and, to ascertain whether they have such qualifications, require them to obtain a certificate or license from a board or other authority competent to judge in that respect. If the qualifications required are appropriate to the profession and attainable by reasonable study or application, their validity is not subject to objection because of their stringency or difficulty.
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