History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

Organization of State Medical Society 49nated at each Annual Meeting.' " Also by proper actions, meetings of theSociety in the future were to be opened by prayer.i860 — ParisA presentiment of unrest may have made itself felt among the physiciansin Paris early in May of i860, but their official minutes make no mention ofnational discord, and they clung to the business at hand. Quickly theybrought important matters before the House. Dr. N. S. Davis presented aresolution, which was adopted, that the Constitution of thisSociety didnot contemplate the election of permanent members residing out of thestate, but that a permanent member of diis Society elected while residingin Illinois would not lose his membership "merely by moving out of it."The Society chose Jacksonville as the place of the 1861 meeting, notrealizing that this meeting would never be held; that the guns of FortSumter in Charleston Harbor would roar an answer to the volleys fired onApril 12,1861, and that the lawyer from Illinois would write his letter toMrs. Bixby and later pen his immortal message delivered at Gettysburg.In the interim they discussed hygiene and sewerage of cities;laws forthe registration of births, marriages and deaths; essays to be submitted forfuture awards; the education of "idiotic and imbecile" children, and theproblem presented by the itinerant practitioners.In i860, the first discussion of medicolegal activities was presented to theSociety by Dr. David Prince, President, in his valedictory address. Lawsuits were being filed against physicians throughout the state. Dr. Princeasked: "Taking the law as it is, and the courts and juries as they are, whatisthe course the practitioner should pursue in justice to himself and thepublic?" Physicians were warned against making chance remarks. Fracturesas the basis for malpractice suits were "by far the most common cause, asevidence with regard to proper or improper treatment is in them reducibleto greater certainty." The medical witnesses "are often bitter enemies tomembers of their own profession, and lawyers delight in playing the doctorsoff against each other. . . . My opinion is that we shall have no reformof this bad system until a Board of Medical Assessorshigh repute in their respective departments) is appointed." 4(consisting of men inDr. N. S. Davis was invited to present the annual lecture before the assembledphysicians. He discussed "mutual relations and consequent mutualduties of the medical profession and the community." Universal truthsstudded his oration: "The family physician is admitted to the innermostcircle of human society. ... A physician isunder equal obligations so long* At the second meeting of the House of Delegates on May 14, 1947, an amendment tothe Constitution established a Committee on Medical Testimony to function in thisstill fertile field.