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to the notification of infectious disease so as to throw a
statutory obligation on medical practitioners to notify, not
only undoubted cases of infectious disease, but also cases
where the medical attendant has reasonable cause for
suspecting- the patient to be suffering from such disease.* The
notification of suspected cases and the appointment by the
Sanitary Authorities of an adequate number of competent
diagnosticians to examine all such cases would do much to
prevent the spread of Small-pox and of other infectious
diseases, which takes place under present conditions owing
to the non-recognition of slight modified cases presenting
points of exceptional difficulty in diagnosis.
Legal proceeding were taken in two instances in
connection with the Small-pox cases. One of the
patients was prosecuted, on his discharge from the
hospital, for exposing himself in a public place while
suffering from Small-pox, and was fined 40s. and costs.
The medical practitioner who failed to recognise the case
which gave rise to the last group of cases was prosecuted for
failing to notify the patient. The magistrate, Mr. Garrett,
however, dismissed the case, but without costs, on the ground
that there was no evidence that the defendant knew the patient
to be suffering from Small-pox. Mr. Garrett's judgment in this
case contains so excellent and lucid an exposition of the law
relating to the notification of infectious disease that it is given
in full below.
Mr. Garrett, after hearing the defendant, intimated
that the other witnesses for the defence need not be called.
This was a case of considerable importance, because of
the construction which the Borough Council sought to put
upon the section. The section was very clear. A doctor
had not to give a certificate that it might be Small-pox,
but that in his opinion it was Small-pox. He ventured to
say no responsible medical man would sign, or ought to
*The notification of suspected cases of small-pox is compulsory in at
least two Australian Colonies, and in New Zealand the provision is extended
to other infectious diseases.