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Not only were the court decisions at odds, but Osteopaths also were forced to make contradictory arguments about their medical specialty. They advertised that their medical system could cure numerous ailments. They also were competing with physicians from the three major medical sects for patients. While Osteopaths primarily treated patients for chronic conditions, they argued that Osteopathy could treat other types of diseases and deserved to be viewed as more than simply a system of body manipulation.<ref> Gevitz, 42.</ref> From their patients’ perspectives, Osteopaths performed the same services as licensed physicians. Osteopaths achieved their results by different methods, but their clients would have viewed Osteopaths as doctors. When licensing and state boards of health prosecuted Osteopaths for practicing medicine, Osteopaths argued that they were not physicians despite their public pronouncements to the contrary. From a legal perspective, Osteopaths made a credible argument. They contended that they did not practice medicine because they did not prescribe drugs. It may have been a solid argument in court to compare to Osteopaths to nurses or massage therapists, but it also would also have undermined their credibility as legitimate healers. Osteopaths wanted to be seen as more than just nurses.<ref> State v. Gordon, 194 Ill. 560, 62 N.E. 858 (1902)</ref>
====Illinois prosecutes Eugene Holt Eastman Osteopaths for the illegal practice of medicine====
Eugene Holt Eastman was one of the first Osteopaths prosecuted for practicing Osteopathy. Eastman was unique because he was tried in two separate states, Illinois and Ohio, for practicing Osteopathy in two consecutive years. He was a graduate of the newly formed American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri.<ref> Eastman v. Ohio, 6 Ohio Dec. 296, 297 (1897).</ref>As a practicing Osteopath, Eastman’s treatment “consisted wholly of rubbing and manipulating the affected parts with his hands and fingers, and flexing and moving the limbs of the patient in various ways.”<ref> Eastman v. People, 71 Ill. App. 236, 238 (1896).</ref> Eastman argued to the Illinois Board of Health that he was not a practicing physician because he did not prescribe medicine or use instruments to treat his patients.<ref> Eastman, 238.</ref> The Illinois board ignored his arguments and determined that he was a physician. The Illinois board ruled that Eastman was a physician because he stated that his treatments could cure a “long list of diseases” relying only on the “manipulation, flexing, rubbing, extension” of his client’s limbs. Both the Illinois board and the court of appeal simply defined medicine as “the art of understanding diseases and curing or relieving them when possible.”<ref>Eastman, 239.</ref> Under this definition, Eastman was found to be practicing medicine and his conviction was upheld.
These new laws were not ideal. In order to secure medical licensing, Osteopaths lobbied in favor of laws that were not always particularly beneficial to them. They struggled to get traction in state legislatures because Osteopaths were hampered by their small numbers, the relative youth of the specialty, disorganized campaigns, and lack of agreement among themselves about the type of laws that were most appropriate. In many states, efforts to secure legislation flamed out. In the states where Osteopaths secured licensing, they often were placed at the mercy of licensing boards that they did not have any representation on.
One of these states was Illinois which passed a new licensing law in 1899 designed to license Osteopaths and other medical specialists. Under the new law, the practice of medicine was broadly defined to include physicians who practiced medicine and surgery in all their branches and anyone who wished to practice a specific system of medicine without the use of medicine or instruments. This law was designed to put the state board of health in charge of all medical practitioners including midwives, Osteopaths and potentially Christian Scientists. Physicians from the three major medical sects controlled the board and Osteopaths had little say over how the law was administered. Even under the 1887 medical practice act, practitioners who rubbed or manipulated their patients were classified as physicians. Suffice it to say, the state’s new law did not necessarily help Osteopaths. Under Illinois law, Osteopath Osteopaths were required to meet the same standards as all other physicians. They were not given a lower standard to become a physician in the state. Laws like Illinois‘ would require Osteopathic schools of medicine to rethink their school’s curriculum to help their students pass licensing exams.
Still, Osteopaths did benefit from a majority of courts’ unwillingness to interfere with their practice rights. Despite the split between the courts, a clear majority ruled that Osteopathy did not constitute the practice of medicine. In some ways, these decisions suggested that the ambivalence expressed earlier by courts about medical licensing in general. They did not hesitate to hobble these laws because of sloppy drafting or overreaching provisions. By finding Osteopathy to be outside the practice of medicine, a majority of courts sent a clear message to state legislatures that they would not allow an expansion of who was a physicians physician without explicit legislation classifying Osteopath as doctors. While these decisions typically favored Osteopaths, the outcome was still problematic. These court decisions essentially stated that Osteopaths were not equal to physicians as healers. If Osteopaths wanted to be considered by the public to be legitimate, they needed to gain state validation.
Osteopaths already had been somewhat successful in establishing licensing laws in several states between 1892 and 1904, but they wanted to create separate licensing boards controlled by Osteopaths and expand the legislative recognition of their sect. With separate boards, Osteopaths could develop their own criteria for licensure and increase the status of legitimate practicing Osteopaths. In California alone, the newly established Osteopathic board between 1901 and 1907 issued more than nine hundred certificates to practice Osteopathy. Even as Regulars, Homeopaths, and Eclectics were moving toward unified boards, Osteopaths realized that separate boards could preserve their unique sect.
