Osteopaths and M.D.s

“What constituted the practice of medicine became the primary legal point at issue in most of the state courts . . . DOs maintained that it meant the practice of administering drugs – and nothing more.” Prior to 1904, all state high courts except Alabama & Nebraska concurred with Kentucky that the term medicine should be narrowly interpreted (Gevitz, 46). By 1920 all graduates of approved osteopathic colleges had received instruction equivalent in length (4 years) to that of MDs” (60, 78).