A digest of the laws and regulations of the various states relating to the reporting of cases of sickness / by John W. Trask, Assistant Surgeon General ; prepared by direction of the Surgeon General.

  • Trask, John W., 1877-1951
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A digest of the laws and regulations of the various states relating to the reporting of cases of sickness / by John W. Trask, Assistant Surgeon General ; prepared by direction of the Surgeon General. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PENNSYLVANIA. HEALTH ORGANIZATION FOR THE COLLECTION OF MORBIDITY REPORTS. State.—There is a department of health, consisting of a commis- sioner of health and an advisory board. The commissioner is a physician, is the head of the department, and is appointed by the governor. (Laws of 1905, act 218, sec. 1.) Districts.—In order to insure the management of the sanitary affairs and the registration of vital statistics in the different parts of the State, the commissioner of health is authorized to apportion the State into 10 districts and to appoint a physician in each district to be health officer and to have, under the direction of the commis- sioner, supervision and control of the sanitary affairs of the district and the registration of vital statistics. The commissioner of health may also appoint and employ such assistants to the health officers of the districts as he may deem necessary. (Laws of 1905, act 218, sec. 11.) Pursuant to the above, a pli3’sician of five or more years’ experi- ence in the practice of medicine has been ajipointed in each county by the State department of health to act as a representative of the department. Townships in which there are no local boards of health have been grouped into about 700 districts, in each of wliich is a local health officer (not necessarily a physician) appointed and paid by the State department of health. Townships of the first class (that is, townsliips with a population of at least 300 to the square mile).—It is the duty of the township com- nhssioners to appoint a townsliip board of liealth of five members, of whom one must be a ])h}sician. The board elects a health officer. (Laws of 1907, act 228, sec. 1.) Cities.—Cities of the first class: In cities of the first class (cities vdth a population of over 1,000,000) there is a board of health of three members appointed by the mayor. One member is designated as the chief of the board of health, and is president of the board. The director of public health and charities is the chief executive of- ficer of the board. (Purdon’s Digest, p. 2925, secs. 786, 788; 1903 Public Laws, 157, sec. 4.) Cities of the second class: In cities of the second class (cities with a population of between 100,000 and 1,000,000) there is a bureau of health, wliich is connected with and under the control of the depart- ment of public safety. The director of the department of public safety appoints a superintendent of the bureau of health, and such other employes as are necessary. (Purdon’s Digest, p. 3024, sec. 107; 1895 Public Laws, 350, sec. 1.) Cities of the third class: The council of any city of the tliird class (cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants) may b^ ordinance create a board of health, consisting of five members. (Laws of 1889, Art. XI, p. 306.) ^ Boroughs (incorporated villages with over 300 inhabitants).—It is the duty of the president of the town council or burgess, where he is the presiding ofiicer, to appoint a board of health of five members. (Purdon’s Digest, Vol. I, p. 532; 1893 Public Laws, 44.)