People ex rel. State Board of Health v. McCoy

Citations

• 125 Ill. 289
• 17 N.E. 786

Syllabus

<p>1. State Board of Health—revoking certificate to practice medicine —power of ■the board. Under section 10 of the act of 1877, to regulate the practice of medicine in this State, the State Board of Health had the power to revoke certificates issued to individuals to practice medicine, for the same reasons it might refuse to issue such certificates, viz., for “unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.” But the board can not, from mere caprice, or without cause, revoke a certificate fairly issued upon sufficient evidence of the holder’s qualifications.</p> <p>2. Same—revocation—for cause only. The right of the citizen to practice his profession is too important to be taken away from him without some reasonable cause. It must be for some act or conduct that would, in the common judgment, be deemed “unprofessional or dishonorable.”</p> <p>3. A revocation of such certificate by the State board can not be sustained, when it does not appear, from the record of their proceedings, that' such board, from any evidence submitted to it, or otherwise, ever found the holder guilty of any act or conduct that was unprofessional or dishonorable.</p> <p>4. Same—what is unprofessional or dishonorable conduct. If the holder of a certificate to practice medicine makes statements and promises with reference to the treatment and cure of the sick and afflicted which are calculated to deceive and defraud the public, that will be unprofessional and dishonorable conduct.</p> <p>5. Same—notice—before revocation, of certificate. Whether the right to practice medicine or law is property, in the technical sense, it is a valuable franchise, and one of which a person can not he deprived without an opportunity, by timely notice, to defend against the charges preferred against him.</p> <p>6. So where a physician having a certificate of the State Board of Health to practice medicine, had a charge made against him of making statements and promises calculated to deceive and defraud the public, of which c