THE AUSTELL DOCTRINE
OF PUBLIC HEALING & SANCTUARY

For Healers, Physicians, and Practices Supported by the Treasury of the Southern Reach

1. Purpose and Scope

This Doctrine applies to any healer, physician, surgeon, apothecary, or clinic that receives coin, supplies, or other support from the treasury. It also sets forth those consecrated grounds within the Reach recognized as Sanctuary for those seeking protection or asylum.

The purpose of The Austell Doctrine is to ensure that public funds are used in good faith, that care is rendered fairly, and that the people may seek treatment or sanctuary without fear. It seeks balance: that healers are not crushed beneath endless burden, and that patients do not perish for want of care. Both sides are owed dignity; both are owed good faith.

Those who decline subsidy may operate privately, but shall not claim the privileges of public practice from The Austell Doctrine.

2. On the Duty to Render Care

Public healers shall provide emergency care to those in mortal danger.

1. Treatment shall be competent, respectful, and free of cruelty or humiliation.
2. Care shall not be unlawfully refused, save where otherwise stated in this Doctrine or under Common Law.
3. Should an individual express preference for practical healing over magicks, that preference shall be honored and upheld as their due, even in the event of their unconsciousness.
4. If a patient is below the age of majority, medical decisions fall to their guardian. A spouse shall not be recognized as guardian unless explicitly granted such authority by the patient while of sound mind.
5. A patient may declare who may oversee or participate in their care, provided this does not conflict with Section 10 or lawful treatment in matters of critical health or revival.
6. When next of kin is known, or where notification is requested by the patient or their legal representative, reasonable effort shall be made to inform them of the patient’s condition and care.

3. On Conduct and Public Trust

Public healers shall conduct themselves in a manner that permits citizens to feel safe and confident in seeking care:

1. They shall not lie to, exploit, or defraud patients or the treasury, nor abuse their station.
2. Improper conduct—such as inappropriate workplace relationships, outbursts, petulance, or other unbecoming behavior—may call a practitioner’s professionalism into question.
3. Healers engaging in dubious, deceitful, or unorthodox practices without clear purpose or patient consent may likewise be subject to review.
4. Reasonable privacy and confidence shall be maintained, save where silence would enable immediate harm or active criminality.
5. Healers are expected to maintain their craft and contribute, as able, to the health of the Reach and the dignity of their profession.

4. On Discipline and Accountability

Any citizen may lodge complaints of malpractice, abuse, neglect, fraud, or misconduct with the Guard, the Petitioners’ Forum, or a trusted practitioner to submit it to the proper authorities.

1. No special forms are required; spoken or written testimony is sufficient.
2. If unprofessional conduct is confirmed, the healer or practice may be warned, suspended, dismissed, or stripped of subsidy, depending on severity.
3. Serious misconduct may be referred for criminal proceedings.
4. The right to appeal is preserved.

5. On Public Funding

Public subsidy is a privilege, not a right. All medicines, salves, and tools provided by the treasury shall be used in good faith. Subsidy may be withdrawn if:

• patients are unlawfully refused,
• resources are misused or stolen,
• records are falsified,
• or this Doctrine is repeatedly violated.

6. On the Accused and the Fugitive

Emergency care shall be rendered to the accused or convicted.

1.  If a wanted criminal is treated, they shall be surrendered to the Guard once stabilized.
2. Failure to do so shall constitute harboring a fugitive under Common Law.
3. Public healers are not expected to fight or capture—only to notify and surrender.

7. On the Black Marked

Those formally Black Marked—being wanted dead for grave offense—are not owed revival or public treatment.

1. Public-funded healers shall refuse them care.
2. Private healers may treat them, but without legal protection should the sentence be carried out.

8. On Suspension of Access

No healer may personally bar someone from entering a public clinic or hospital.

1. If a person endangers staff or patients, any citizen may request a ban through the Guard or an entrusted practitioner so that they may lodge it with the proper authorities.
2. If a ban is issued, it must state the reason, duration, and terms of return.
3.  Even banned individuals shall receive emergency aid if death is imminent, save for the Black Marked.
4. In the event an individual presents an immediate physical threat to those already admitted, the practitioner may refuse them entry until the danger has passed or the Guard arrives.

9. On True Sanctuary

Two sites are recognized as True Sanctuary within the Reach:

• the Shrine of the Lady of the Lake—Brocéliande, and
• the Kawatare Shrine.

Within Sanctuary:

• no blood may be spilled,
• no bounty claimed,
• no arrest made.

Sanctuary does not erase crime or debt; it forbids seizure and violence until the protected party departs. Only the recognized Shrinekeepers of the sanctuaries may truly turn people away, so long as it aligns with the intentions as listed above.

10. On Critical Health & Revival

Being treated in a state of critical health, or that of revival is regarded as medical treatment and follows the same expectations of competency, consent, and reasonable judgment as other forms of care.

1. Individuals who attempt revival or life-preserving measures in good faith to prevent death or grievous injury shall not be held criminally liable if it is later found that the being did not wish to be saved—provided the attempt was reasonable and necessary.
2. If a patient is in a state of delirium or otherwise of unsound mind, and no prior directive of care exists, the decision shall fall to the discretion of the attending practitioner.
3. Revival shall be refused to those formally Black Marked and to those under lawful execution, as both are considered outside the protections of medical mercy.
4. Others may be revived in accordance with custom, consent, and medical judgment.

Penned by M. Noctis
Ratified and Signed by the Council of the Spire, on Frostfall 26 of 1641.