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Admin moved page Were Osteopaths viewed as doctors in the 19th Century? to Were Osteopaths viewed as doctors in the 19th Century
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[[File:Andrew_Taylor_Still_1914.jpg|left|thumbnail|250px|Andrew Taylor Still, founder of the Osteopathic Medicine in 1914]]
By Clinton Sandvick In the last quarter of the 19th Century in the United States, Osteopathy posed a significant challenge to existing physicians. At the end of the 19th century, medicine in America was dominated by three separate competing medical sects - regular (M.D.), homeopaths and eclectic physicians. Each sect advanced competing theories explaining the causes of disease and illness. The emerging science surrounding germ theory threatened to upend the medical doctrine of all three sects. Osteopaths, on the other hand, dismissed scientific medicine entirely. Osteopaths manipulated the body to treat their patient's health. Because of Osteopaths ' unusual treatments, the newly created medical licensing boards around the United States struggled with whether their practice constituted the practice of medicine.
In response to Osteopaths and other new medical sects, state licensing and examining boards tried to bring new drugless specialties such as Osteopathy, under their purview by expanding the definition of practicing medicine. Regardless of the treatment protocol, licensing boards insisted that these care providers were practicing medicine under existing medical practice acts. The medical boards were concerned enough by Osteopaths, they began prosecuting specialists who did not secure licenses under existing laws. Osteopaths, Christian Scientists, opticians, midwives, and other medical professionals all came within the crosshairs of licensing authorities after they expanded their interpretation of the “practice of medicine.” Osteopaths and Christian Scientists received extra attention because they were perceived by the three major sects as the greatest threats to their control over licensing.<ref> Allan McLane Hamilton, Md., Lawrence Godkin, Esq, eds. William A. Purrington, Esq., “Of Certain Legal Relations of Physicians and Surgeons to Their Patients and to One Another,” A System of Legal Medicine, Vol. 1, (New York, E.B. Treat 1895), 595-598.</ref>
====The Birth of Osteopathy====
Andrew Taylor Still, a former Regular physician from Missouri, developed the treatments that morphed into Osteopathy during the 1870s and 1880s. In 1874, Still renounced Regular medicine and became a magnetic healer. Magnetic healers passed magnets over a patient’s body to restore the flow of the “invisible magnetic fluid” that circulated throughout the body. Magnetic healing was developed in Austria in the late eighteenth century and migrated to the United States. Magnetic healers postulated that people became ill when this fluid pooled inside the body instead of flowing freely.<ref> Gevitz, Norman, <i>The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America</i>, 2nd edition, (John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1982, 2004), 13-15. </ref>
While practicing magnetic healing, Still added bonesetting to his practice to attract more patients. Bonesetters alleviated pain by moving bones back into alignment. Bonesetting had been practiced since colonial times, and these specialists were dispersed widely throughout the country. After learning the bonesetter trade, Still became convinced that bonesetting could do more than just address simple aches and pain. He argued that it had the potential to cure chronic conditions such as asthma.<ref>Gevitz, 17-19</ref>
In 1899, the Ohio Supreme Court in State v. Liffring supported the earlier lower court decision in the Eastman case and confirmed that Osteopathy did not constitute the practice of medicine in Ohio. A grand jury indicted William Liffring for practicing with a license, but went to the circuit court and quashed the indictment. The state sought to overturn the lower court’s decision and prosecute Liffring for violating the state’s licensing law. Prosecutors argued that medicine had “a wider significance than has the word drug.” They also cited “The Ohio Osteopath,” which was published by the faculty of the Ohio Institute of Osteopathy. This publication identified fifty diseases that could be treated successfully by Osteopathy. The court disagreed and found that the practice of medicine required the use of “drug or medicine.”<ref> State v. Liffring, 61 Ohio St. 39; 55 N.E. 168 (1899), 39-51.</ref>
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In Nelson v. State Board of Health, an Osteopath named Harry Nelson filed a petition of equity to enjoin the Kentucky State Board of Health from harassing him. Nelson was concerned that the board was going to prosecute him for violating the state’s practice and he sought to short-circuit their efforts. They refused to enjoin the board from enforcing the law against Nelson. After the lower Law and Equity Division entered a judgment in favor of the board, Nelson asked the Kentucky court of appeals to reverse the decision and force the board to recognize his college, the American College of Osteopathy in Kirksville, as legitimate under the state’s medical practice act.<ref> Nelson v. State Board of Health, 108 Ky. 769, (1900), 770-774.</ref>
====Osteopaths lobby legislatures for protection from prosecution====
[[File:1200px-Illinois_House_of_Representatives.jpg|left|225px370px|thumbnail|Illinois House of Representatives]]
Since the courts were deadlocked over the issue of Osteopathy, Osteopaths quickly realized that the only way to ensure the survival of their medical specialty was to lobby for their own licensing laws. While a majority of courts exempted Osteopaths from licensing laws, Osteopaths wanted their practice to not only be legal throughout the country but legitimate. Like Regulars and Irregulars, Osteopaths quickly organized themselves in medical societies and created research journals. Aside from giving Osteopaths a sheen of respectability, the infrastructure gave Osteopaths a way to wage a concerted campaign to secure licensing. Between 1897 and 1901, fifteen states passed separate licensing laws for Osteopaths. Unsurprisingly, most of these states were in the Midwest, but New York, California, and Connecticut also passed laws favoring Osteopaths.<ref> Gevitz, 47.</ref>
By 1923, Osteopaths secured licensing in forty-six states and about half of those states created separate osteopathic boards. Osteopaths established a secure foothold in America and have never relinquished it. Contrarily, after the major sects established unified boards and the AMA admitted Irregulars to its ranks, Eclecticism and Homeopathy began their slow decline. Osteopaths successfully transformed themselves from a small Midwestern medical sect into physicians in the eyes of both the public and the law.
Today, Osteopaths and MDs are virtually indistinguishable. During the 20th Century, Osteopaths have almost abandoned the teachings of slowly moved away from Andrew Still 's drugless treatments. Medical licensing allowed osteopaths to transform the sectarian medical doctrine that had defined osteopathy at the end them and still be distinct from MDs. Instead of being subsumed by the 19th century and moved away from drugless treatmentsregulars, Osteopaths were allowed to transform their medical practices. Currently, there are over 34 American Osteopathic medical schools and over 130,000 osteopaths practicing medicine across the United States.
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