Executive Order 6219—Healing Arts Practice Regulations for the Canal Zone

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1 of the act approved August 21, 1916 (39 Stat. 527-529), as amended by the act of February 16, 1933 (47 Stat. 818), I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the issue of licenses to practice the healing art in the Canal Zone.

Section 1. For the purpose of these regulations the following words and phrases have the meanings assigned to them, respectively, except where the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Diseased" means any blemish, defect, deformity, infirmity, disorder, or injury of the human body or mind, and pregnancy, and the effects of any of them.

(b) "The healing art" means the art of detecting or attempting to detect the presence of any disease, if present; of preventing, relieving, correcting, or curing, or of attempting to prevent, relieve, correct, or cure, any disease; of safeguarding or attempting to safeguard the life of any woman and infant through pregnancy and parturition; and of doing or attempting to do any of the acts enumerated above: Provided, That for the purpose of these regulations the term "the healing art" does not include dentistry, podiatry, optometry, pharmacy, and nursing.

(c) "To practice" means to do or to attempt to do, or to hold oneself out or to allow oneself to be held out as ready to do, any act enumerated in subsection (b) of this section as constituting a part of the healing art, for a fee, gift, or reward, or in anticipation of any fee, gift, or reward, whether tangible or intangible.

(d) "Drugless healing" means any system of healing that does not resort to the use of drugs, medicine, or operative surgery for the prevention, relief, or cure of any disease.

(e) "School" means any school, college, or university.

(f) "Board of Health" means the Board of Health of the Canal Zone.

(g) "Board of examiners" and "examining board" means any one of the boards appointed by the Board of Health, as provided by these regulations, for the purpose of examining candidates to determine their fitness to practice the healing art, as indicated by the context.

(h) "Basic sciences" means and includes the sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology, without exception.

Section 2. No person shall practice the healing art in the Canal Zone who is not (a) licensed so to do, or (b) exempted from licensure under sections 33 or 34 of these regulations. All licenses to practice medicine in the Canal Zone issued by proper authority before the adoption of these regulations shall remain in effect unless suspended or revoked by the Board of Health of the Canal Zone as provided by these regulations.

Section 3. No person shall practice the healing art in the Canal Zone otherwise than in accordance with the terms of his license.

Section 4. The Board of Health shall establish minimum standards of preprofessional and professional education in the healing art and may establish minimum standards for hospitals for interne training. It may determine whether preprofessional and professional schools, and whether hospitals, attain such standards. It may for its convenience accept as standards for the Canal Zone those standards established for such institutions by the commission on licensure of the District of Columbia. No credit shall be given for any certificate, diploma, or degree emanating from any school, and the Board of Health may refuse to give any credit for any certificate or diploma emanating from any hospital, that has not maintained the standard established by the said board: Provided, That this requirement as to standards shall not apply in the case of persons applying for license under the provisions of section 13 of these regulations.

Section 5. The Board of Health shall receive and record all applications presented in due form for license. If the Board of Health finds that an applicant has submitted satisfactory proof of age, moral character, preprofessional education, professional education, and, if required by the Board of Health, of hospital training, but must be subjected to an examination to determine his professional fitness, the Board of Health shall certify him to an examining board for that purpose; and upon receipt of a report from the examining board, satisfactory to the Board of Health, showing that the applicant has passed such an examination, the Board of Health, being of the opinion that the applicant is in all other respects legally qualified, shall issue to him a license to practice the healing art in the manner described in his application and as authorized by these regulations, in whatever class the Board of Health shall find him qualified so to practice. No application for license shall be received from a person who is not a bona fide resident of the Canal Zone or the Republic of Panama, and no application shall be received unless such application is presented to the Board of Health by the applicant in person.

Section 6. Whenever an application to practice the healing art is received, the Board of Health shall appoint a board of examiners in the basic sciences, and may also appoint a board of examiners in medicine or other form of the healing art should they deem it necessary or expedient, to determine the fitness of the applicant to be licensed under these regulations. Each examining board shall consist of three members, and membership in one examining board shall not be a bar to membership in the other.

Section 7. Each examining board shall elect a chairman and a secretary and may make such rules regarding the discharge of its duties as the Board of Health may approve. Each board shall conduct examinations and make reports as required by these regulations and by the rules under which it works.

Section 8. The Board of Health shall appoint the several members of the board of examiners in the basic sciences so that there will be on said examining board one or more members capable of determining whether applicants have or have not a sufficient knowledge of the sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology to enable such applicants to understand and to apply such sciences in the study and practice of the healing art. Every examination in the basic sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology (practical laboratory demonstrations excepted) shall be conducted in writing, and both questions and answers shall be permanently filed in a secure manner together with the other proceedings of the board of examiners.

Section 9. The Board of Health shall refer to the board of examiners in the basic sciences every applicant for license to practice the healing art in the Canal Zone, except such as are hereinafter excepted, for determination of the applicant's ability to understand and to apply the sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology to the study and practice of the healing art. The board of examiners in the basic sciences may examine any applicant referred to it by the Board of Health, but it may accept in lieu of examination proof that the applicant has passed, before a board of examiners in the basic sciences, by whatsoever name it may be known, or before any examining or licensing board in the healing art as that art is herein before defined, of any State, Territory, or other jurisdiction under the United States, or of any foreign country, an examination in anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology, as comprehensive and as exhaustive as that required in the Canal Zone under the authority of these regulations. The board of examiners in the basic sciences shall report its findings to the Board of Health. An applicant who is reported by the board of examiners as qualified in the sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology, but who is not entitled to a license to practice the healing art, without examination, shall be certified by the Board of Health to a board of examiners in the healing art for determination of his professional fitness. An applicant who is reported by the board of examiners as qualified in the said basic sciences and who is entitled to a license by reciprocity, without examination, shall thereupon be given such a license. An applicant to practice drugless healing who is found qualified in the said basic sciences by the board of examiners and furnishes the Board of Health satisfactory proof that he is a graduate of a school of that cult which has attained the standard for such school as established by the Board of Health in the manner specified in section 4 above, may, if the Board of Health deem it expedient, forthwith be licensed in that particular art of healing. The Board of Health shall issue no license to practice the healing art to any person who has not been reported by the board of examiners in the basic sciences as qualified in the sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology, except to applicants for licenses to practice midwifery and to those exempted by section 13 of these regulations.

Section 10. The Board of Health shall appoint as members of the board of examiners in the healing art such of the personnel of the Health Department, or other persons legally entitled to practice the healing art in the Canal Zone, as they may deem qualified to perform in a skillful and impartial manner the duties that may be required of them in connection therewith. The board of examiners in the healing art shall certify to the Board of Health applicants whom they have found qualified to be licensed to practice medicine or other form of the healing art as the case may be and shall state specifically the school or cult of medicine or other form of the healing art in which it has found him to be so qualified.

Section 11. No applicant shall be certified to the board of examiners in medicine or other form of the healing art for examination who has not been reported by the board of examiners in the basic sciences as qualified in the sciences of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, bacteriology, and pathology.

Section 12. An applicant to practice medicine or other form of the healing art shall define in his application the method of healing for which the applicant desires license to practice. The Board of Health will not receive or consider an application to practice any form of the healing art except such as are recognized and for which licenses are issued in the District of Columbia under the provisions of an act to regulate the practice of the healing art to protect the public health in the District of Columbia, approved February 27, 1929.

Section 13. Physicians having been employed as such by the United States, the Isthmian Canal Commission, or The Panama Canal, in the Canal Zone for a period of not less than 12 months, whose services in that employ were satisfactory, and who are bona fide residents of the Canal Zone or Republic of Panama at the time of making application for such license, may be licensed to practice medicine in the Canal Zone without examination; Provided, That service as an interne in any hospital shall not be considered as employment as a physician as used in this section.

Section 14. The Board of Health may appoint, from time to time, as need arises, an examiner or board of examiners in midwifery, consisting of one or more persons authorized to practice medicine in the Canal Zone.

Section 15. The Board of Health shall refer to the examiner or board of examiners in midwifery, for determination of the applicant's fitness so to practice, every applicant for a license to practice midwifery who intends and in her application agrees to limit her practice to the care of women during normal pregnancy and parturition, in so far as the licentiate is able to determine whether pregnancy and parturition are normal in any particular case, and who is not entitled to a license by virtue of an outstanding license or permit to practice midwifery in the Canal Zone in force at the date of the adoption of these regulations. The Board of Health may prescribe reasonable rules to be observed in the practice of midwifery. Licenses to practice midwifery shall be granted for a term of one year from date of issue but may be suspended or revoked by the Board of Health for good cause shown.

Section 16. The Board of Health shall carefully consider the reports of the board of examiners in the basic sciences and of the examining board by which any applicant has been examined, purporting to show the qualifications of the applicant. If the Board of Health is satisfied that the applicant is qualified to practice the healing art in accordance with law and within the limits fixed by his application, the Board of Health shall issue to him a license attesting that fact and authorizing him so to practice in whatever class of practice the Board of Health has found him qualified, so long as that license is unsuspended and unrevoked. All reports of examining boards and all questions to and answers by applicants in written examinations shall be open to inspection by any person who shows to the satisfaction of the Board of Health that he has some proper interest in them. All written examinations, both questions and answers, shall be permanently filed in a secure manner together with the other proceedings of the board of examiners. The Board of Health shall record all licenses in a book kept for that purpose, which shall be duly indexed. Licenses shall be consecutively numbered. Licenses shall show on their faces the class of practice for which they are issued, and licentiates shall display the same prominently in their offices at all times.

Section 17. Any person desiring to practice the healing art in the Canal Zone shall apply to the Board of Health, in writing, for authority so to do. The application shall be in such form and accompanied by such evidence of the qualifications of the applicant as the Board of Health requires. Each application shall be accompanied by a fee, as follows: For a license on the basis of examination, a fee of $ 10; for a license without examination as provided in section 15 of these regulations, a fee of $ 5. The Board of Health may, on showing of any adequate cause, refund to an applicant for a license on the basis of examination any or all of the fee paid by him, prior to the reference of his application to an examining board for consideration, and thereafter if the applicant is by reason of sickness or other adequate cause prevented from entering the examination the Board of Health may refund not more than 50 per centum of such fee.

Section 18. An applicant who desires to obtain a license without examination, by virtue of a license issued to him by a State, Territory, or other jurisdiction forming a part of the United States, or by a foreign country, shall submit proof, satisfactory to the Board of Health, that he is a bona fide resident of the Canal Zone or the Republic of Panama; that he is not less than 21 years of age and is of good moral character; that he was licensed to practice the healing art in the jurisdiction whence he comes under conditions that at that time would have enabled him to obtain a license to practice the healing art in the Canal Zone, or to have obtained a license under the provisions of these regulations were they then in force; that he practiced the healing art under authority of said license for not less than 2 consecutive years immediately preceding the date of his application, and that he intends, if licensed by the Board of Health, to practice in the Canal Zone. The applicant shall submit, also, proof that the licensing agency of the jurisdiction whence he comes or desires to come grants, without examination, to licentiates of the Canal Zone of the same class, licenses to practice the healing art within its jurisdiction. When the Board of Health is satisfied as to the qualifications of the applicant as aforesaid and as to the readiness of the licensing agency of the jurisdiction whence the applicant comes to license, without examination, licentiates of the licensing agency of the Canal Zone of the same class, the Board of Health shall issue to the applicant a license to practice the healing art corresponding in scope as nearly as may be to the license issued to him by the jurisdiction whence he comes: Provided, That an applicant who has been examined under authority of the Board of Health and who has failed shall not thereafter be licensed by the Board of Health by virtue of reciprocity with another jurisdiction.

Section 19. Each applicant for a license to practice the healing art, to be issued after examination, shall submit with his application proof satisfactory to the Board of Health that he is not less than 21 years of age; that he is of good moral character; that he has had not less than 2 years of preprofessional education and training in a college or university acceptable to the Board of Health before entering on the study of the healing art; that he has studied the healing art through not less than four graded courses of not less than 9 months each, in a professional school or schools of a standard established or accepted by the Board of Health as provided by section 4 of these regulations, and has been graduated by such a school with the degree of doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathy, or some equivalent degree; and, if required by the Board of Health, that he has had not less than 1 year of training in a hospital of a standard established or accepted by the Board of Health as provided by section 4 of these regulations: Provided, That an applicant who has had the education and training required above, in preprofessional and professional schools, but whose graduation has been deferred by the professional school he last attended until after he has completed his training in an accepted hospital, may be admitted to examination; but no license shall be issued to any such applicant until after he has been graduated from an accepted school: Provided further, That an applicant for a license to be issued after examination who was graduated before the effective date of these regulations by an accepted school may, if otherwise qualified, be admitted to examination upon proof by the applicant of such preprofessional and professional education and training, and of such graduation, as were required by the laws of the Canal Zone regulating the practice of medicine and surgery at the time of such graduation: Provided further, That an applicant for a license to practice osteopathy and surgery who has been graduated as aforesaid prior to December 31, 1930, shall be examined and licensed on showing that he was graduated by a high school acceptable to the Board of Health before he entered on the study of osteopathy and that he in all other respects is qualified as aforesaid for examination: And provided further, That an applicant for a license to practice drugless healing, who has been graduated before December 31, 1935, may be admitted to examination on proof that before entering on the study of drugless healing he was graduated by a high school acceptable to the Board of Health and that he in all other respects is qualified as aforesaid for examination, and was graduated by a school accepted by the Board of Health under these regulations, teaching the method of healing that he intends to follow, with a degree appropriate to that method of healing, after not less than three graded courses of resident study and training of at least 6 months each. After December 31, 1935, every such applicant shall be required to submit, before he is referred to an examining board for examination, evidence of not less than 2 years' education in a college acceptable to the Board of Health and not less than four graded resident courses of professional study of not less than 9 months each, in the same manner and to the same extent as are required of other applicants for licenses to practice the healing art.

Section 20. The Board of Health of the Canal Zone may suspend or revoke any license issued under these regulations, upon evidence showing to the satisfaction of the board that the licentiate has been guilty of misconduct or is professionally incapacitated. The Board of Health of the Canal Zone may determine whether a license shall be suspended or be revoked, and if such license is to be suspended said board may determine the duration of such suspension and the conditions under which such suspension shall terminate.

Section 21. No person shall file or attempt to file with the Board of Health any statement, diploma, certificate, credential, or other evidence when he knows, or when he might by reasonable diligence ascertain, that it is false and misleading.

Section 22. No person shall allow any other person to impersonate him in any manner whatsoever in obtaining or attempting to obtain any certificate or license.

Section 23. No person shall disclose, directly or indirectly, to an applicant for a license, in advance of any examination or test to which the applicant is to be subjected, any question to be propounded to the applicant or any test to which he is to be subjected. No applicant for a certificate or license under the regulations and no other person whosoever shall procure or undertake to procure any such disclosure.

Section 24. No person licensed under these regulations shall allow any other person to impersonate him in connection with practice under any such license.

Section 25. No person shall impersonate a person licensed under these regulations in connection with the practice of the healing art under such license.

Section 26. No person shall alter or forge, or attempt to alter or forge, any diploma or other evidence of graduation in the healing art, or any certificate or evidence of any kind, with the intent that it shall be used to evade the provisions of these regulations.

Section 27. No person shall alter or forge, or attempt to alter or forge, any license, or counterfeit the seal of the Board of Health or make any counterfeit impression of that seal.

Section 28. No person having any office or duty to perform with respect to the licensing or registration of applicants for licenses under the provisions of these regulations shall knowingly rate unfairly or give any unauthorized advantage to, or impose any unfair disadvantages on, any such applicant.

Section 29. Any person who swears or affirms to the truth of any matter of opinion that he knows to be false, for the purpose of evading, hindering, or impeding the purposes of these regulations, may be prosecuted for perjury. Any person who swears or affirms falsely, outside of the Canal Zone, if his oath or affirmation be delivered to the Board of Health of the Canal Zone, may be prosecuted for perjury.

Section 30. The Board of Health may refuse to license any person for any cause that in the judgment of the Board of Health would, under the provisions of section 20 of these regulations, authorize the said board to suspend or revoke a license, if issued or granted. Before the Board of Health refuses to license any applicant for any cause under the provisions of this section, it shall give that applicant an opportunity to be heard in person or by attorney, and to produce witnesses on his behalf. Witnesses may be produced on behalf of the Board of Health and on behalf of any interested person.

Section 31. Any person violating the provisions of these regulations shall upon conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than $25 or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court, as provided in the act of February 16, 1933.

Section 32. If a person licensed under the provisions of these regulations be convicted in the District Court of the Canal Zone of any felony, the Board of Health may suspend for such time and under such conditions as it deems proper, or may revoke, the license of the defendant, in addition to any other penalty provided by law. An appeal by the defendant in any such case from the conviction of the offense shall act as supersedes to the judgment of the board suspending or revoking his license.

Section 33. The provisions of these regulations forbidding the practice of the healing art without a license shall not apply (a) to commissioned surgeons of the United States Army, Navy, or Public Health Service, or to medical officers in any other branch of the Federal Government whatsoever, in the discharge of their official duties.

Section 34. The provisions of these regulations shall not be construed to apply to (a) the treatment of any case of actual emergency; or (b) to the practice of massage, or dietetics, or the use of hygienic measures, for the relief of disease or to the practice of any other form of physiotherapy for the relief of disease, or to the practice of X-ray or laboratory technicians, under the direction of a person licensed to practice the healing art in the Canal Zone; or (c) to the use of ordinary hygienic, dietetic, or domestic remedies: Provided, That such use is not in violation of the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of these regulations; or (d) to persons treating human ailments by prayer or spiritual means, as an exercise or enjoyment of religious freedom: Provided, That the laws, rules, and regulations relating to communicable diseases and sanitary matters are not violated: or (e) to the sale, manufacture, or advertising of drugs and medicines: Provided, That the vendor, maker, or advertiser refrains from any attempt to diagnose.

Section 35. All money payable under the provisions of section 17 of these regulations shall be paid to the Collector of The Panama Canal.

Section 36. All rules and regulations contrary to these regulations or inconsistent therewith are hereby rescinded.

Section 37. These regulations shall take effect immediately.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

The White House,
July 26, 1933.