Walter E. Vest, M. D. v. Glenn E. Cobb

Summary

On certified questions from the Circuit Court of Wyoming County, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that an osteopathic physician and surgeon duly licensed under Code, 30-14, may prescribe and administer narcotic and other drugs and medicines and perform surgery in the same manner and to the same extent as physicians and surgeons licensed under Code, 30-3, because the two articles must be read in pari materia and Code, 30-14-10 grants osteopaths the same rights as physicians and surgeons of other schools of medicine. Chapter 151, Acts of the Legislature, 1951, was held prospective in operation as to licenses issued before its enactment and neither enlarged nor diminished the defendant's 1946 license rights. The circuit court's overruling of the defendant's demurrer to the bill of complaint was reversed, with directions to sustain the demurrer and dismiss the bill if plaintiffs did not amend. Lovins, Judge, dissenting, would have affirmed, contending that Code, 30-3 and Code, 30-14 create separate professions, may not be read together, and confine osteopaths to the principles of their own school.