People v. Brown

• Decision Date: 23 September 1954
• Docket Number: No. 33151,33151
• Citation: 3 Ill.2d 415,121 N.E.2d 760
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Ira G. BROWN, Plaintiff in Error.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 760

121 N.E.2d 760

3 Ill.2d 415

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Ira G. BROWN, Plaintiff in Error.

No. 33151.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Sept. 23, 1954.

Ray E. Lane, Chicago, for plaintiff in error.

Latham Castle, Atty. Gen., and John Gutknecht, State's Atty., Chicago (John T. Gallagher, Rudolph L. Janega, Arthur F. Manning, and Roman Stachnik, Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

FULTON, Justice.

The plaintiff in error was tried before a jury in the county court of Cook County for violating section 24 of the Medical Practice Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1949, chap. 91, par. 16i,) and was sentenced on each of five counts of the information to a term of six months in jail, with sentences to run concurrently, and was also fined $200 on each count. He appealed directly to this court where the cause was transferred to the Appellate Court, First District, on the ground that no constitional question was presented. 415 Ill. 626, 114 N.E.2d 565. In the Appellate Court his conviction was affirmed. Plaintiff in error now seeks by writ of error to reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court and seeks a review of his conviction in this court.

Section 24 of the Medical Practice Act prohibits the treatment of physical ailments for profit without a license and prescribes penalties for such misdemeanors. The information filed in the county court charged the plaintiff in error with treating human ailments without a valid license issued by the State of Illinois. In the five counts contained in the information it was charged that the plaintiff in error did 'diagnosticate the supposed ailment of one Frances Dickerson * * * as a misplaced vertebra;' that he prescribed an X-ray picture and unlawfully treated Frances Dickerson by manipulating and applying pressure to her spine and back with his hands with the intention of receiving a fee; that he unlawfully attached the title of 'Chiropractor' to his name on the window of his office, and that he unlawfully maintained an office for examination and treatment of persons 'afflicted and supposed to be afflicted with an ailment.'

The facts show that Frances Dickerson, an investigator of the Department of Registration and Education of the State of Illinois, called at the offices of the defendant. On the office door, among other names, appeared that of the defendant 'Ira A. Brown, Palmer Chiropractor.' After she spent a short time in the waiting room, the plaintiff in error took her into his office...