What Is
The Law?
This column is prepared
so a public service by the
College of Law. Willamette
University. Salem, to ex
plain basic legal principles,
not to provide legal advice.
The reader is cautioned not
to apply these cases to his
own problems without an
attorney's advice, for dif
fering facts may change
the outcome.
The Law Protects Patient
Physician Communications
1 Peter Plaintiff was injured
in an automobile accident. A
police surgeon called to the
scene of the accident saw
plaintiff sitting on the side
walk. When Plaintiff sued
Dan Defendant for damages
arising out of the accident,
Defedant called the police
surgeon as a witness and
asKfed him whether he had
setfn theopiaintiff spit blood
before getting into the ambu
lance. Plaintiffs lawyer ob
jected to this testimony. The
judge had to decide whether
fee police surgeon should an
swer jhis question or whether
9 there was a rule of law ex
cluding this testimony.
This problem involves what
is known as the patient-physi-sian
privilege. -i
Most states encourage the
utmost confidence between
the patient and his physician.
In part the Oregon statute
provides that "a regular phy
sician or surgeon shall not,
without the consent of his pa
tient, be examined in a civil
action, $uit or proceeding, as
to any information acquired
in attending the patient which
?s necessary to enable him
to prescribe or act for the
patient."
In Scope of Practice
The law protects communi
cations between physician and
patient which are legitimately
within the scope of lawful
medical practice and does not
extend to communications
yiade to aid or to commit a
crime.
Therefore, in court, the re-
V Vrt TTTM1
in the life of every family
m iii i iii jBHiim 11 . i; mm mi I, vi
I teiliBiilii ilBfliiflsSai MS llBl'li'M
5T??yi- assess
V
1 V
4 )
v
A new arrival . . .
ssv - , k
a new home . . . a comtortable retirement
Join the 23 million Americans who save at
associations like ours where their money is safe
and earns excellent returns.
Current Dividend 4 Per Annum
Start a Savings Account Now at
tannic J
29 North
EDUCATION EXPERIMENT Twenty-two
high school and faculty members, all of the
International School of America, New York,
wave on their arrival in San Francisco. The
students, representing nations across the
world, are participating in an educational
lationship of the physician
and the patient must first be
established. Generally speak
ing, a physician is free to tes
tify about matters which he
observed or learned about the
patient before and after he
was professionally involved
with him.
In the case cited at the be
ginning of the article, the Mis
a college
---yr-J------ ----AelteVt-Vi'''iaa- mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmW
iff 4iL
FIRST FEDERAL
Savings & Loan Assn. of Hedford
Ivy St.
Robert F. Kyle,
souri court held that if the re
lation of physican and patient
had been established and that
Peter Plaintiff had submitted
himself for examination by
the police surgeon, then any
information acquired by ob
servation after that time
would not be admissible. But
on the other hand, if prior to
the establishment of this rela-
education . . .
Manager
experiment by spending their last year in
high school touring the world. The globe
circling trip was arranged by the U.S. State
Department and the American Association
for the United Nations. -(UPI Telephoto)
tionship the doctor observed
the patient and acquired in
formation from such observa
tion, then the police surgeon
should be allowed to answer
the question put to him.
Death Has No Affect
Generally, communications
made by a prospective patient
to a physician with a view to
engaging him would be pro
tected even though the physi
cian refused to accept the per
son as a patient, or the person
decided not to engage the
physician. Generally, too, the
death of the patient does not
affect the patient - physician
privilege.
Last Civil War
Vet Plans Party
Houston, Tex. -fllPD- Walter
"Williams, who says he is the
last veteran of the Civil War,
looked forward today to a bar
becue on his 117th birthday.
His daughter, Mrs. Willie
Mae Bowles, said he will' be
117 on Nov. 14. He wants a
barbecue of ribs and Mrs.
Bowles said she will have one
the next day, although all her
father can do "is nibble at
them."
Williams recently had pneu
monia and it was feared that
he would die. But he recover
ed arid his daughter said he
now has only a slight cold.
He lives on soft-boiled eggs,
baby food, creamed potatoes,
milk and coffee. He probably
will never be able to get out
of bed again.
A Scripps-Howard reporter
more than a month ago said,
after an investigation, that
there was some doubt that
Williams is as old as he claims
to be or even old enough to
have fought in the Civil War.
But Gov. Price Daniel of
Texas said the official stand
of Texas is that Williams is
whr.t he says he is.
Senator Kennedy
Sidesteps Morse
Milwaukee, Wis. -fflPD- Sen.
John Kennedy Saturday de
fended his support of the com
promise labor bill passed by
Congress and sidestepped a
feud with Oregon's . Sen.
Wayne Morse.
Kennedy arrived in Wiscon
sin for a whirlwind six
speeches in 14 hours.' Just
four days ago, Morse had
told a Milwaukee audience
that the Massachusetts Dem
ocrat let the labor bill pass
in order to obtain a "label"
for his presidential hopes.
The bill, the Oregon Demo
crat said, was labor's "worst
setback since passage of the
Taft-Hartley act."
Kennedy replied that the
bill which finally emerged
from Congress was in the
"best interest of labor." He
said Morse, had the right to
disagree, but 64 other Demo
cratic senators supported the
position of the - conference
committee which he headed.
FLOODS HIT MEXICO
Mexico City (UPD - Floods
caused by 10 days of heavy
rain in the south Mexican
states of Tabasco and Chiapas
have killed at least two per
sons and driven 10,000 from
their homes,, it was reported
today.
Public Patience
Urged for TV
Washington-IUPD-The chair
man of the Federal Communi
cations Commission said today
the public should have "pa
tience" with television's
growing pains, including
fixed quiz shows.
John C. Doerfer said it
wasn't necessary and perhaps
dangerous for the government
to step in and tighten its reg
ulation of the industry. ,
"With just a little patience,
over a period of time many of
the undesirable practices will
disappear," he said in a copy
righted interview with U.S.
News & World Report Mag
azine. But Doerfer said it might
be a good idea for the TV in
dustry to give consideration
to establishing its own czar
for policing and "raising the
level of this creative media."
The late Judge K e n e s a w
Mountain Landis did the same
thing for baseball and Eric
Johnston for the movie industry.
M.J.B.
COFFEE
2-LB. CAN $1.37
M.J.B.
INSTANT
COFFEE
6 02.
JAR
GOLD
MEDAL
FLOUR
z. 79
CARNATION
CANNED
MILK
10
TALL
CANS
C&H
BROWN or
POWDERED
SUGAR
89'
mW
Quotes From the News
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Las Vegas, Nev.-Charles Coburn, 83 to his nervous 41-year-old
bride, the former Mrs Winnifred Gean Clements
Natzska, during their wedding ceremony:
"Calm down. I'm not going to bite you-ai least not very
hard."
Johnson City, Tex.-Former President Harry S. Truman,
denying he has named anyone as the leading crndidate for
the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination:
"I am neutral. But I'll tell you this. I'm going to see a
Democrat elected next year."
Hollywood - Mrs. Florence Aadland, mother of Errol
Flynn's "protegee," Beverly Aadland, disclosing that she has
advised her daughter not to attend the actor's funeral:
"I doubt if anyone will attend the funeral who really
loved Errol."
Washington-George W. Taylor, chairman of the presiden
tial fact-finding board that tried to settle the steel strike, ad
mitting that negotiations had collapsed:
"We. find that the differences are of such a nature that it's
simply not possible to get a meeting of minds tonight."
Junction City Duck Hunter Dies of Attack
Junction City - (UPD - Eli S.
Moore, 59, Junction City,
collapsed and died of an ap
parent heart attack while
duck hunting along the Wil
lamette river east of here
early Saturday.
GET YOUR KWIN TREASURE MAPS AT YOUR
NEIGHBORHOOD BIG Y. LOOK FOR THE
BONUS CLUES TOO!
PLUS
SILVER
DOLLAR
STAMPS
WE RESERVE
LIMIT RIGHTS
c
PRICES GOOD
THRU
WEDNESDAY
OCT. 2 1st
c
The
10)10
IN
c
HEAVY WITH
SWEET JUICE
SWEET
EXTRA JUICY
Hannover, Germany (UPD -A
series of brush fires swept
Lower Saxony Sunday, dam
aging more than 100 square
miles of forest and heathland
but causing no known casualties.
THE BIG Y'S are the stores that give you M-O-R-E of EVERYTHING
Quality . . . Service . . . and Savings! We've all your family's favorite
Famous Brand Foods . . . and, we've LOW PRICES by the hundreds 'n
hundreds on every shelf and table and in every freezer and display! You
get all this plus the speediest checkouts and friendliest service possible!
Just one trip will convince you that you get more when you shop our stores!
mmf ml IUI I f ll 1. MA '
411 If Jh T1-N KBt.. f
Freshest
TOWN
TEXAS RED
GRAPEFRUIT
3 . 29'
SUNKIST
GRANGES
t
Agreement Near
On Exchanges
Washington -(UPD-The Unit
ed States and Russia were re
ported near agreement today
on a plan to extend and. build
up the cultural and scientific
exchange program.
State Department sources
said a team of four negotia
tors, would go to Moscow
shortly to put the finishing
touches on the new program.
The present two-year ex
change expires Jan. 27, 1960.
Officials said both the Unit
ed States and Russia had ad
vanced new proposals which
considerably narrowed points
of difference between the two
nations.
! As a result, they said, the
new plan probably would pro
vide for a greater variety of
exchanges and involve more
people than the expiring pro
gram. The current program calls
for the United States to send
1,733 persons to the Soviet
Union under 129 separate pro
jects. Russia would have sent
1,391 to the United States un
der 121 projects.
5? ZT ft -
rsT mi i i r
mm ml M K mm m
M tUl . - r
NORTH
HIGHWAY 99
608
MAIN
5
U. of 0., Porter
Invite Lumbermen
77". . : irmn rril tt:
sity of Oregon and Rep.
Charles O. Porter (D-Ore.)
have jointly announced an in
vitation to lumbermen
throughout Southwest flrpmn.
and others interested in the
lumber and logging industry
oi tne area, to attend a dav-
long conference on the univer
sity campus here Nov. 2.
Meeting space has been oro-
vided for the' conference, the.
second annual meeting, in the
Erb Memorial union. The con
ference lasts from 9:30 a.m.
until noon and from 2 p.m.
until 5 p.m.
Canada had 88 pulp and
paper companies operating in
1958.
We Give
GREEN STAMPS
CENTRAL REXALL DRUG
Main and Central
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or.
Monday, Oct. 19, 1959
'C w
mm mjMri m Ml m I m
EAST
STREET
11th AND
OAKDALE