149 Ga. 716 | Ga. | 1920
By an act approved August 18, 1913 (Acts 1913, p. 101), entitled “An act to abolish the present State Board of Medical Examiners, and to establish a composite Board of Medical Examiners for the State of Georgia; to define its duties and powers,” etc., the General Assembly created the State Board of Medical -Examiners, and conferred upon them enumerated powers and duties. Section 14 of the act declares that the board may refuse to grant a license to practice medicine in this State, or may cause a licentiate’s name to be removed from the records in the office of the clerk of the court, on several stated grounds; and that the board may, upon satisfactory proof made that any licentiate has been guilty of any of the offenses defined in the grounds enumerated, suspend said licentiate from the practice of medicine and call in his license upon a majority vote of the board; “provided, however, that said suspended physician shall have a right to appeal to a jury in the superior court of the county of his residence, and it shall be the duty of said board to prefer in writing the charge or charges against said physician, which shall be tried by a jury regularly empaneled and sworn. Said physician, the defendant in said proceedings, shall be entitled to an appeal to the Supreme Court. In the event of conviction by the jury of any of the charges preferred, the license of said physician shall be revoked.” This proviso is followed by other provisions relative to the restoration of the physician whose license has been revoked or called in The petition in this case attacks the provisions of this section, upon stated constitutional grounds; among others, that it is violative of the due-process clauses of our State and Federal constitutions, in that no provision is made in this particular section of the act, or elsewhere, for notice to him of the action to be taken by the board, as a result of which the physician’s license might be revoked or called in, and that no provision for a hearing is made either in
Neither in that section of the act of 1913 which we have under review nor in any other portion of the act is provision made for notice to the accused and a hearing; and though in this particular case the accused might have appeared and submitted evidence, that did not cure the defect in the act itself. If such a hearing was granted him, it was by grace, and not by virtue of the requirements of the law. Nor did the right of appeal to a jury in the superior court cure the defect in the law, as was expressly decided in the Mott case. An extended discussion of the question is unnecessary. The statute under which the defendant was tried by the State Board of Medical Examiners being invalid and void on the constitutional grounds pointed out, the proceedings before that board, which resulted in finding the defendant guilty of certain specified offenses, were nugatory, and the finding was without effect and void; and the appeal and trial before a jury under the provisions of the section in the statute set forth above could not have the effect of giving validity to the proceedings and findings before the board, nor could the finding of the jury in the superior court upon the appeal be treated otherwise than as void, as the statute under
It is further urged in this case, that even if the principles which we have restated above, supporting them by quotations from decisions rendered by this court, are sound in criminal cases, the doctrine can not be applied to civil cases; and it is insisted that the proceedings against the defendant in error, which resulted in his conviction and the revocation of his license, are civil proceedings. We cannot assent to this proposition in its entirety. . The
It follows from what we have said that the petitioner was entitled to injunctive relief against the threatened action of the State Board of Medical Examiners, which, if carried out, would result in revoking and cancelling his license and thereby depriving him of the right to pursue his profession; and it requires no argument to demonstrate that the injury which would thus be inflicted would be irreparable in its character. The court below did not err in granting the injunctive relief complained of.
It is unnecessary to consider other objections raised to the statute in question, which are based upon constitutional grounds.
Judgment affirmed,.