Medical Experts.
SAN JOSE:
"THE PIONEER" PRINT, COMMERCIAL BANK BUILDING.
1877.
Medical Experts.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Santa Clara Medical Society:
In the almost infinite variety of human affairs there are possibly nonemore complex than those which are involved in adjusting the legalrelations of the insane. And, certainly, no duty which the medical manis called to perform so tries his patience or tests his knowledge andhis experience as the character of medical witness in Judicialinvestigations.
The points to which I particularly desire to call your attentionto-night are the following, to-wit:
First.—The present uncertain position occupied by medical experts inCalifornia Courts.
Second.—The provision in our civil code which enables a person, who hasbeen declared insane before a commission of lunacy, to demand a Judicialinvestigation before a Jury.
My own limited capacity, Mr. President, and the presence here to-nightof older and more [Pg 3]experienced members of the profession admonish methat my theme is ill-chosen, and whilst I feel that my effort isproperly prefaced by an apology, I am likewise impressed with theconviction, that it is my duty and privilege to raise my voice, feeblethough it be, against abuses which are alike derogatory to ourprofession and an injustice to society.
It is a confession no less mortifying than true, that medical experts,in California Courts, have no legal rights, and their testimony elicitsneither respectable consideration nor carries with it authoritativeweight. I assume these premises to be true, and if there is a medicalman within the sound of my voice, whose experience as a legal expert inthis State has been more fortunate, I shall unhesitatingly pronounce hiscase anomalous. Admitting then my hypothesis, let us inquire, if so wemay, wherein lie the evils of which we speak and if possible theirremedy.
Any person holding a diploma from a reputable school of medicine andengaged in the active practice of his profession, is in law an expert.In this capacity he may be summoned at any moment to testify toquestions of fact, hypothetical or theoretical. The questions thuspropounded to the medical witness are frequently complex in theirnature, involve a wide range of inquiry, and necessitate on his part ajust discrimination, extensive knowledge and large experience. Again,medical science is ever varying; it may be likened[Pg 4] to an uncertainstream that shifts its banks—restless and aggressive, the land-markschange, but the river's course is ever onward. Principles like the rocksleft in its ancient bed, alone remain to mark its passage and reveal itswork; accepted truths of to-day may be untruths to-morrow. Errors havebeen enunciated by Philosophers, have been sanctified by the Church, andpromulgated by Priests, but have finally been overtaken by this sameresistless stream of progress, and by it have been swept out of theworld. Even so to-day our science is changing its foundation stones.Insanity is but just emerging from a complex labyrinth of metaphysicalobscurities, and has taken its place in pathology as a physical disease.Physiological Chemistry has scarcely conned its alphabet, and itsunknown literature, pregnant with