Walker v. Medical Soc. of Mobile County

• Citation: 22 So.2d 715,247 Ala. 169
• Decision Date: 14 June 1945
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 227.
• Parties: WALKER v. MEDICAL SOC. OF MOBILE COUNTY et al.
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama

22 So.2d 715

247 Ala. 169

WALKER v. MEDICAL SOC. OF MOBILE COUNTY et al.

1 Div. 227.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 14, 1945

Rehearing Denied July 26, 1945.

D R. Coley, Jr., of Mobile, for appellant.

Wm. N. McQueen, Acting Atty. Gen., Forman Smith Asst. Atty. Gen., and Johnston, McCall & Johnston, of Mobile, for appellees.

SIMPSON Justice.

Complainant Dr. Howard S. J. Walker, appeals from a final decree dismissing his bill seeking to restrain the appellee Medical Society and its secretary from enrolling Dr. Virginia E. Webb and Dr. John H. Greene as members thereof.

The former appeal of this case was to review rulings on the pleadings. The holding was that the bill of complaint made a case for equitable cognizance and that, on the facts alleged, complainant was entitled to the writ of injunction excluding the two doctors from membership in the Society. See Medical Society, etc., v. Walker, 245 Ala. 135, 16 So.2d 321.

On coming in of the answer, however, and the taking of testimony, an entirely different issue was presented and it now appears that (1) the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, after due hearing at its annual meeting, had ordered and directed the County Society to enroll the two appellees as members and (2) that, though entirely eligible for membership in the Society, the two doctors had been blackballed and excluded from membership therein by the complainant and others under an agreement so to do regardless of their qualifications, vel non, for membership.

It is complainant's contention that the County Society is invested with the sole, exclusive, autocratic, and irremediable right and authority to exclude from membership any doctor, whether eligible or not, whatever the basis of such denial of membership, and that the State Association is without authority or jurisdiction to control action in the premises. The present appeal is from a final decree, adversary to this position and denying the complainant relief, dismissing the bill, discharging the temporary injunction, and ordering the Secretary of the County Society to enroll the two doctors as members.

In analyzing the ultimate issue to be decided, it is well to look into the historical background of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, its relation to the County Society, and to set forth at the outset the pertinent provisions of the Constitution and by-laws of the two organizations, and to indicate their integrated legal status with the State and County Boards of Health.

'The Medical Association of the State of Alabama' was first incorporated by legislative enactment February 13, 1850, Acts 1849-50, p. 315, without any public functions or duties. In 1873 at an annual meeting held at Tuscaloosa, a Constitution was adopted declaring its aims and functions and prescribing its mode of organization, the character of its membership and the names and duties of its officers. Extantly, the Association is functioning under its Constitution of 1908.

Article II of the present Constitution assigns as its objects:

'(1) To organize the medical profession of the State in accordance with principles and plans herein embodied;

'(2) To secure careful and reliable accounts of the endemic and epidemic diseases of the State;

'(3) To encourage the study of medical botany, medical topography, and medical climatology of the State;

'(4) To promote the establishment of a high standard of professional and moral education for medical men, for the purpose of protecting the people of the State against the evils of ignorance and dishonesty;

'(5) To endeavor to secure the enactment of wise and just laws for ascertaining by examination the qualifications of all persons who propose to offer their services to the people of any part of the State for the purpose of treating diseases of human beings;

'(6) To foster fraternal relations among the physicians of the State, and thus develop a spirit of loyalty to pure and exalted principles of professional ethics; '(7) To combine the influence of the medical men of the State for the purpose of protecting their legitimate rights and of promoting the sanitary welfare of the people.'

Under Article IV, Section 1, 'All members of county medical societies holding charters from the Association shall be, ipso facto, members of the Association.'

In addition to the usual officers, the State Medical Association elects a Board of Censors who serve for five years and who are in effect an executive committee, a court of impeachment and review, an auditing board and a board of examiners for admission to practice medicine. Article XIII of the Constitution reposes in the Board plenary powers and certain authorities and duties with reference to the selection and discharge of the State Health Officer, and provides that said Board 'shall be authorized to act in three capacities, to wit: (1) As a State Board of Censors; (2) as a State Board of Medical Examiners; (3) as a State Committee of Public Health.'

By the Act of February 19, 1875, Acts 1874-5, p. 130, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama was constituted a Board of Health of the State of Alabama, and the County Medical Societies, in affiliation with the State Association and organized in accordance with the provisions of its Constitution, were constituted the Boards of Health for their respective counties and as such were under the general direction of the State Board of Health.

These provisions were reenacted in every Alabama Code down to and including that of 1907. Later acts amended, revised and extended, under a recodification, the health laws of the State, but the structure of the system was not essentially altered. Parke v. Bradley, 204 Ala. 455, 86 So. 28.

The present organization of the Health Department of the State is found in Title 22, Chapter 1, Section 1 et seq., Code 1940. Section 1 constitutes the Medical Association of the State of Alabama the State Board of Health. Section 2 constitutes the State Board of Censors, of said Association, the State Committee of Public Health, with the Governor as a member and ex-officio chairman. Section 3 requires the State Committee of Public Health to act for the State Board of Health when not in session and when the Committee is not in session that the State Health Officer shall act for the Board and the Committee. Section 4 constitutes the Boards of Censors of the County Medical Societies, in affiliation with the Medical Association of the State of Alabama and organized in accordance with the provisions of its Constitution, as the County Boards of Health of their respective counties to be under the general supervision and control of the State Board of Health (the State Association). Section 6 vests in these Boards of Health the sole and exclusive control of the public health and interdicts the setting up of any rival Board of Health or executive body for the exercise of public health functions. Other sections set forth the authority and jurisdiction of the State and County Boards of Health, provide for the election of the State and County Health Officers, and prescribe their various duties, etc.

It thus appears that the State Association, and the County Societies through their Boards of Censors, are impressed with public functions and are in effect the representative guardians of the public health of the various communities of the State.

Of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, this court has already said:

'We are * * * of the opinion, having regard to its organization, aims, and activities, and its relation to the state board of health and to the public welfare in general, that it is a quasi public corporation, charged with duties and responsibilities which it cannot evade, * * *.' Parke v. Bradley, 204 Ala. 455, 459, 86 So. 28, 31.

The Constitution of the State Association provides that the County Medical Societies of the State, when organized under constitutions and by-laws approved by the State Association, are entitled to the issuance of charters from the parent body. A charter was granted to the Medical Society of Mobile County pursuant therewith on the 19th day of April, 1912, since which date the Society has been in affiliation with the State Association. Under the Constitution of the County Society five members of the Society are elected to membership on the County Board of Censors, which Board is endowed with the same three capacities with regard to the County as is the State Board of Censors with the State. (We note that the State Constitution, which is controlling, authorizes the County Boards of Censors to act in only two capacities, viz., (1) as a Board of Censors, (2) as a County Board of Health.)

Article 3 of the Constitution of the Medical Society of Mobile County defines as among its objects:

'Art. 3. The objects of this society shall be:

'(1) To accept the responsibilities and discharge the duties that devolve upon it as the legal board of health of the county.

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'(5) To co-operate with the Medical Association of the State of Alabama in the accomplishment of the great aims set forth in its Constitution;

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'(7) To so extend the membership as to make it include, if possible, all worthy and deserving members of the profession residing in the county.'

We shall see, hereafter, that the appellee Medical Society, holding its charter from the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, and acting in affiliation with it, is subordinate to and subject to the supervisory powers of the Association.

Article XIII of the Constitution of the State Association provides, inter alia, with regard to the State Board of Censors, as follows:

'State Board of Censors.

'Jurisdiction.

'Sec 9.--When acting as a State Board of Censors...