Stevens, Donald Robert, 1984-2010-09-062010-09-062010-06https://hdl.handle.net/1794/10694xi, 149 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.Between the early 1900s and the 1952 U.S. Supreme Court case of United States v. Oregon State Medical Society, conflicts over the legality and permissibility of contract medicine raged in Oregon. Organized labor opposed the practice because it restricted their choice of physician, and because they resented mandatory wage deductions to pay for the contracts. Organized medicine resented contract medicine for its imposition of commercial power on physicians. The groups initially attempted to resolve the issue publicly through legislation, but procedural factors and a lack of group cohesiveness prevented a public solution. Beginning in the 1930s, the State Medical Society imposed its own private code of ethics on the medical services market to eliminate contract practice, and used the legislative process to preserve its independence to pursue a private sector solution. Ultimately, the Supreme Court allowed this approach, based partly on its view that medicine was distinct from business.en-USMedical care -- Oregon -- History -- 20th centuryThesis