UNQUALIFIED PRACTICE.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 434, 27 February 1875, Page 2

UNQUALIFIED PRACTICE.

In the outlying portions of a: gr&tf" tiffiiEinent ftk# Australia men are not very likely to be pa'ticular* about the diplomas of those whom 1 ! they Consult provided they derive benefit from thtf treatment, and 1 so far unqualified practice may'^ber by the exigenciea of the case, The pt*ofeS3ionv the Lancet * SMya, may not unreasonably complain,- however,- -^ when, as in a recent trial in Queensland, the presiding judge Mr Lilley, held the evidence of a chemist to be perfectly admissible, although he to some extent at least, disagreed with a fully-qualified medical man as to the cause of death in the case in question „.'.. . We do not hesitate to say that the representative of Majesty on this occasion went clean against the letter and spirit of the law of England and of the colonies.** A chemist or anyone elae may fairly enough give evidence as to simple matters of fact, but for him to venture opinions which a medical man is alon« qualified to form is monstrous, and must load to great psrveryion of justice. l s he Government of the eoloni a, not content with the qualilicitio'i urrterthe Medical Act, has instituted at Sydney a Medical B )ard, whose duty it is to inspect.the .diplomas of intending practitioners and grant a license t£ practise* This is a v&*y necessary precanti >'n in a colony to which : medical practiti- ' oners of all countries and with eve"Vj^ kind of diploma' come in considerable numbers j'Wt what, it may be 1 asked, is the value of State recognition* if it \» openly set at nought by a judge upon the bench I