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I came upon this article describing a case that happened in Missouri which allowed DOs to practice in Missouri. It was one of the landmark cases that set the precedence in other states.
http://home.att.net/~Olorin/mephistos/burke_abstract.html
http://home.att.net/~Olorin/mephistos/burke_abstract.html
Thomas Burke, University of Missouri - Columbia: The Audrain Doctor's Case: A Case Study in the Struggle for Legitimacy by Osteopathic Physicians.
In 1950 Judge Sam Blair handed down a landmark decision in the Audrain Doctor's Case.
By ruling that osteopathic physicians could not be barred from practicing in Missouri's County supported hospitals, he overturned eleven years of exclusionary practices, and established a precedent which other states would follow. This case has not been studied in detail. The verdict, however, marks a turning point in the treatment of osteopaths as 'irregular' physicians.
This case occurred in a progressive county, in the state which first granted a charter for the creation of a school of osteopathy, and the licensing of D.O.'s, Diplomat of Osteopathy. In 1940, the Board of Trustees for the Audrain County Hospital removed osteopathic physicians from the list of doctors allowed to practice in the hospital. Dr. H.I. Nesheim, an osteopath, quickly opened the Mexico General Hospital, as a place where osteopaths could treat their patients.
These osteopaths later opposed bond issues in 1946 and 1950 which would allow the county hospital to expand. Their opposition led to the trustees filing a declaratory suit with the Audrain County Court. This suit named the Audrain County MDs and DOs, as well as their state organizations, as defendants. The trustees sought to determine whether they had acted appropriately in excluding the osteopaths.
The trial focused on that portion of the County Hospital Act stating that "no discrimination shall be made against practitioners of any school of medicine recognized by the laws of Missouri." The trustees argued that they were compelled to exclude the osteopaths based on an opinion of Missouri Attorney General McKittrick.
The lawyers for the Doctors of Medicine (MD), maintained that the osteopaths were not entitled to practice medicine or surgery in the sense of using drugs or operating with instruments. They held that the reference to the school of medicine applied to allopaths, homeopaths, and eclectics, since these schools of thought produced MDs. The MD lawyers further sought to define osteopathy at the 1897 standard of care.
The attorneys for the osteopaths argued that the trustees did not have to exclude the osteopaths, and that osteopaths were Throughout the several days of the trial, various graduates from the osteopathic school in Kirksville, Missouri, testified for both the osteopaths and the allopaths about what they were taught. Central to the questioning was whether drugs and surgery had been taught and later employed in private practice. This information was compared to the writings of Dr. A.T. Still, the founder of osteopathy, and to textbooks used at the school.
Judge Blair ruled that the board of trustees had acted improperly, and could not exclude osteopaths from practicing in the county hospital. Osteopathic physicians now had a right to take their patients to county hospitals. The judges' ruling also recognized that osteopathy was a school of medicine and surgery, and that osteopathic physicians had received instruction in the use of drugs and surgery in addition to manipulation.
The trustees and the MD defendants appealed the ruling stating that the judge went beyond his authority in defining the scope of osteopathic practice. The Eastern Court of Appeals, overturned that portion of the verdict stating what osteopaths had learned and were capable of doing in their practice, but upheld the right of osteopaths to practice in county hospitals. The case finally ended in 1953 when the Missouri Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
Within a few years of the Audrain Doctor's Case, Osteopathic physicians were no longer veiwed as sectarian cultists. They were able to serve in the armed forces medical departments as physicians, and to consult openly with MD. Today, DOs and MDs train together in residency programs, and serve together on hospital staffs. Osteopathy is no longer considered an irregular or alternative medical practice.
