People v. T. Wah Hing

FINCH, P. J.

The defendant was convicted of the violation of section 17 of the Medical Practice Act. (Stats. 1913, p. 722.) This appeal is from the judgment and the order denying a new trial.

The indictment, filed September 16, 1925, charges that the defendant, on the - day of July, 1925, “did then and there wilfully and unlawfully practice, attempt to practice, and hold himself out as practicing a system or mode of treating the sick and afflicted in this state, without having at the time of so doing a valid, unrevoked certificate from the board of medical examiners of the state of California.”

Appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the conviction. A witness for the prosecution testified that a neighbor, Mrs. McBride, was ill during the month of July, 1925, for a period of about three weeks, and that she died the first or second of the following month; that the defendant visited the McBride residence during the period “at least three or four times,” remaining there “around ten minutes” each time; that his visits were made “a couple of times in the evening, along about seven or seven thirty, and at other times, during the day.” A second witness testified that she saw the defendant drive up to the McBride residence once “in the evening, about seven or seven thirty, and one time in the morning”; that one evening a son of Mrs. McBride used the witness’ telephone and asked for “Doctor Hing,” and that “in a very few minutes” the defendant arrived at the McBride residence. A third witness testified that she was present in the McBride home on one occasion when the defendant called there and remained for fifteen or twenty minutes; that Mrs. McBride “told defendant she was awful sick”; that he “tried Mrs. McBride’s pulse” and “gave her a dose of medicine”; that he left three kinds of medicine and gave the witness directions “how to give this medicine”; that “he fixed it for her; he stewed it for her and steeped it . . . for her”; and that he was addressed as “Doctor Hing” while there and “didn’t say anything

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about” the use of the word “doctor.” A fourth witness testified that Mrs. McBride was “very sick” about July 13, 1925; that she saw the defendant at the McBride residence twice; that he left some herbs one time and directed the witness “to make a tea of them”; that he made a “slight examination” of Mrs. McBride “when she complained of being bloated, . . . just pressed about a couple of times in her abdomen”; that he looked at her tongue “one time”; that at another time he left some gray powder to be put in her tea. A fifth witness testified that he saw the defendant at the McBride residence three or four times; that one morning, “a little before seven o’clock,” Mr. McBride requested the witness to telephone to “Doctor Hing”; that the witness called the defendant on the telephone “and asked if it was Doctor Hing, and he says, ‘Yes, yes; I am getting the medicine now.’ I phoned that Mrs. McBride was in great pain, and Mr. McBride wanted him to come out right away, and he said, ‘Yes, yes; I am getting the medicine now’ that the defendant appeared at the McBride residence “in about a half or three-quarters of an hour after that.” A deputy sheriff testified that he arrested the defendant in the latter’s office September 17, 1925; that on that occasion a “colored lady came in and says: ‘Doctor Hing?’ He says: ‘Yes.’ She says: ‘I have pains in my stomach; I would like some medicine.’ . . . Doctor Hing says: ‘I am busy now; you come back after while; I’ll fix you up.’ The defendant did not take the witness-stand and the foregoing evidence stands wholly uncontradicted.