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STATEMENT OF HON. DON FUQUA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA

Mr. FUQUA. I wish to bring to the attention of this committee my support and endorsement of this proposal to revise the existing law relating to the examination, licensure, registration, and regulation of optometrists and the practice of optometry in the District of Columiba. The practice of optometry has been of concern to me even prior to my coming to the U.S. Congress since I worked diligently in the Florida State Legislature for the passage of legislation providing scholarships for students in our State. Less than 2 years ago, I actively supported in Congress legislation for loans to students of optometry and expressed to the House my interest in the bill H.R. 8546 of the 88th Congress. As you may recall, S. 2180 was passed in lieu of the House bill and it is now Public Law 88-654.

There has been and still is, a great need for optometrists. This country now has only about 1 optometrist for every 12,500 persons, whereas the recognized minimum is 1 for every 7,000 persons. With such deficiencies, I believe it is important that we protect the visually needy of the District of Columbia by assuring them that those who are practicing optometry are duly licensed and trained. This discrepancy of not being able to meet the demands of those needing the services of an optometrist is an unfortunate, but perfect atmosphere for the unlicensed and untrained exploiters to invade the field.

The District of Columbia law regulating the practice of optometry is grossly antiquated and obsolete. Being enacted in 1924, it has remained unchanged while optometry laws in all the States have been revised and updated to keep pace with the changing requirements and needs of the people as well as the growth of the profession. I introduced H.R. 13049 and am advocating these amendments for obvious reasons being presented to this committee, and which I reiterate in my own statement.

Need for amendments to the present law is found in more than its regulatory statutes when we see the practice of optometry defined as a mechanical art. Congress has seen fit to assist in the education of the students of optometry during their training of 6 years and by so doing certainly recognizes the need of the practice and its place as necessary in the well-being of the individual. The laws of most of the States have affirmatively and directly stated that optometry is a profession. Optometry can't be considered so erroneously as a mechanical art when it is actually coordinate to the professions of medicine and dentistry and is due regulating statutes for practice so as to define the scope of the profession just as the other health arts. Therefore, optometry is a profession which should be regulated in the public interest and the responsibility of the optometrist must be made clear as that of fulfilling his obligation to protect, conserve, and improve the vision of his patients.

Enactment of the legislation is badly needed to bring the standards of practice in optometry up to a level which will provide adequate protection for the visual needs of persons seeking vision care within the District of Columbia. I respectfully request of the committee favorable consideration of this proposal to enact regulations, comparable to those governing the other learned professions, for the practice of optometry for the protection of the public against ignorance, incapacity, deception, and fraud.

MARYLAND-DELAWARE-DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA JEWELERS ASSOCIATION,
Washington, D.C., March 17, 1966.

Re H.R. 12937, a bill to amend the Optometry Act of the District of Columbia.
Congressman JOHN DOWDY,
Chairman, Subcommittee No. 4,

House District Committee, Washington, D.C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN DOWDY: The attention of our association has been called to the above-entitled bill for which we understand hearings are to be held on March 21, 1966. Our association is strongly opposed to many portions of this bill. Because of the fact that the hearings are about to be held we have been unable to prepare as complete a statement as we would like, but we do ask that the contents of this letter be considered by your committee and included in the record.

Our association firmly objects to those portions of this bill which would prohibit the advertising of optometrist services, which would prohibit the practice

of optometry in premises not exclusively devoted to practice of optometry, and the other similar clauses of the bill, the effect of which would be to prohibit optometric departments in commercial establishments.

This bill is merely the latest in a long list of bills which have been introduced in the House over a period of at least the last 20 years. Each previously introduced bill has been disapproved by your committee either with or without hearings. Your files will undoubtedly hold volumes of testimony both pro and con on this subject, the net result of which has been to disapprove the bill. We call your attention to this because it almost seems unnecessary to go through the same hearings again in view of the long and extensive history of this proposed legislation. There has been no change in circumstance which would warrant reexamination of the subject.

There are, of course, a good many provisions in this proposed act for which we have no objections and indeed, we have in the past sat down with members of the local optometric association, the Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia, and other interested persons in order to work out a compromise solution. We are willing to do so again in the future.

The principal object of the bill in its present form is simple and our objection to it is direct: the bill would force out of business all optometrists who operate from jewelry stores, department stores, and other commercial establishments or who operate in street front locations. From the standpoint of the selfish interests of the so-called upstairs optometrist, this is no doubt a worthwhile objective. From the standpoint of the public the bill is detrimental. The optometrists who operate in the setting which this bill would prohibit are by and large those who furnish competent optometric services to the public at the lowest prices. It cannot be doubted that if this bill were enacted, the average cost of optometrical service in the District of Columbia would escalate rapidly and severely. If any public good would incidentally be accomplished along with such an increase in cost, that, of course, would be an argument and justification, but the facts are to the contrary. So far as we know, there are no material complaints against the optometrists which this bill would force out of business with respect to the quality of their services or their standards and ethics. Our observation over the years is that complaints against optometrists who operate from commercial establishments (and probably do more business per person than others) has been no greater than any other form of this business. We have verified this by communicating with Mr. Leland McCarthy, manager of the Better Business Bureau of the District of Columbia. Mr. McCarthy informs us that his records indicate that over the years complaints against optometrists, whether operating from stores or otherwise, has been neglibible.

We have used the word "business" advisedly. The bill would call optometry a profession. Whether or not a calling is a profession should not depend on legislative enactment but should depend upon the quality, skills, and personal relationships existing in the services performed. As Chief Judge Groner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said in the landmark case of Silver v. Lansburgh & Bro. et al., 72 App. D.C. 77 (p. 79):

"In this view, we may very well concede that optometry is a profession, as that term is now colloquially used, but that fact is not enough to bring the rule into effect. There is no more reason to prohibit a corporation, organized for the purpose, from employing licensed optometrists, than there is to prohibit similar employment of accountants, architects, or engineers. We know of no instance in which the right in any of those cases has ever been challenged, though universally all are deemed professions."

The public good is paramount and that good is adversely affected by this bill. Yet also to be considered is the tremendous investment that many persons and businesses have in optometric departments. These investments would be totally destroyed by this bill. Many optometrists would be permanently denied the right to work since they probably could not now compete in setting up their own "upstairs" business with those of longstanding practice.

There are many more things which could be said but we are trying to voice our objections briefly and succinctly. For all of the above reasons, the bill should be rejected. As we have stated, we would be very happy to participate in drafting compromise legislation.

Respectfully,

HENRY H. BRYLAWSKI,
Executive Secretary.

Representative BASIL WHITENER,
Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 23, 1966.

Regarding H.R. 12937, I would like to express my total opposition to this bill.. These are optometrists who are attempting to gain by laws what they lack in education. They are not able by education or training or have proven in past ability to perform the function which they request. I would like to state for you the referred to report, dated March 24, 1962, on the optometrist work with. the North Carolina Commission for the Blind is true and valid. This report is part of the North Carolina commission minutes of the spring meeting of 1962. The records are part of the public records on file with the North Carolina Blind Commission, Raleigh.

Sincerely,

Hon. JOHN DOWDY,

Chairman, Subcommittee No. 4,

House District Committee,

RICHARD B. RANKIN, Jr., M.D.

HOUSTON, TEX., March 26, 1966.

Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

The Houston Ophthalmological Society wishes to respectfully go on record as being equivocally opposed to H.R. 12937; to regulate the practice of optometry in the District of Columbia. This bill is definitely not in the public interest as it will restrict the ability of the medically trained eye physicians to properly diagnose and treat anomalies and diseases of the eye. We respectfully. request that this statement be entered into the hearing record.

Hon. JOHN DOWDY,

Chairman, Subcommittee No. 4,

GEORGE ROBERT KOLODNY, M.D., President of the Houston Ophthalmological Society..

House District Affairs Committee,

AUSTIN, TEX., March 27, 1966..

Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C.:

I regret the error made in the original night letter signed by Dr. Horald E.. Hunt and myself. The Texas Ophthalmological Association upholds whole-heartedly the arguments presented by the District of Columbia ophthalmological. Society in opposing H.R. 12937, a bill to regulate the practice of Optometry in the District of Columbia. Bill H.R. 12937 should be defeated as it is not in the best public interest.

HENRY L. HILGARTNER, M.D., President-Elect, Texas Ophthalmological Association.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY,

Congressman JOHN DOWDY,

Chairman, Subcommittee No. 4,
House District Committee,

Arlington, Va., March 26, 1966.

Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN DOWDY: At a meeting of the Northern Virginia Academy of Ophthalmology on March 21, 1966, the enclosed motion was passed by our membership. We are in complete support with the stand of the Section of Ophthalmology, Medical Society of the District of Columbia.

We should like the enclosed resolution to be introduced in the meeting stating: our opposition to any changes in this law.

Very truly yours,

JOHN F. HANNON, M.D.

Resolved: The Northern Virginia Academy of Ophthalmology is unanimous in its support of the position held by the Society of the District of Columbia on H.R. 12937, District of Columbia Optometry Act.

AMERICAN NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION,
New York, N.Y., March 28, 1966.

Hon. JOHN Dowdy,

Chairman, Subcommittee No. 4,

Committee on District of Columbia,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The American Newspaper Publishers Association takes this opportunity to express its views with respect to bill H.R. 12937 and related bills which are subject of hearings by your subcommittee.

The ANPA is an association of daily newspapers founded in 1887. Our 975 members represent 90 percent of the daily newspaper circulation in the United States.

As we understand it, the bills would provide authority for the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia to "refuse to issue, renew, or restore any license authorized by this act *** for any of the following causes:

"(7) (8). Advertising directly or indirectly the performance of optometric service or any part thereof, including the furnishing of ophthalmic or optical material, in any form, manner, or way, or through any medium, whether it be printed, audible, visible, electronic, or in any other fashion, except as authorized by regulations issued under section 10 of this act."

Under section 10 of the proposal, the District Commissioners could authorize the use of professional cards and small signs at the optometrist's office.

It is disturbing to learn that a group of optometrists seeks enactment of a law to prohibit truthful advertising by optometrists.

We believe that optometrists have a right to declare themselves ethical; that they have a right to declare themselves professional and to endeavor to improve their public image; that they can be licensed by government. However, it is entirely another matter if they expect government to enforce their own particular ethics when it includes a prohibition against truthful advertising.

This association objects to the passage of any bill by the Congress which would set up a series of conditions controlling the advertising by optometrists in the District of Columbia. We take the position that it should be legal to advertise any service or product which it is legal to sell. This is fundamental.

If there is anything false or misleading in advertising, prosecution of those responsible for the advertising should be made under the provisions of laws touching upon false and misleading advertising now in existence in the District of Columbia.

If any one type of advertising be prohibited, plausible excuses will not be lacking for extending the prohibition to advertising by other groups, classes or individuals. We do not believe that Government controls should be so extended because to do so would place more hurdles in the path of individual initiative. To enact the proposal now before your subcommittee would create a situation that would deny to the public information it is entitled to have. To restrict such information is to censor-to impair the right of the people to know. We earnestly recommend that your subcommittee reject the proposal now before you, and request that this letter be made a part of the hearing record. Sincerely yours,

STANFORD SMITH, General Manager.

HOUSTON, TEX., March 30, 1966.

Hon. JOHN DOWDY,

Chairman, Subcommittee Number 4,

House District Committee,

Longworth House Office Building,

Washington, D.C.

We the Board of directors of the Ophthalmic Dispensing Association of Texas by unanimous vote this date request the following statement be included in the testimony of the hearings on H.R. 12937:

Resolved, The Ophthalmic Dispensing Association of Texas wishes to be recorded as opposing H.R. 12937. This bill is considered as a further attempt by optometry to restrain trade and the right of the public to freely choose the supplier of optical goods and services. This bill, is passed would severely affect the historic ophthalmologist-optician relationship the methods and procedures of which effectively caring for the public which seeks medical eye care.

EVERETT C. OLNEY, President.

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