Omaha Sunday Bee Magazines-Page
Copyright, 1913, tr Amerlcan-Examtnsr. Groat Britain Rights Rtitmd.
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I
The Obstacles in the
Way of a Court of
Death Which Would Be
Formed to Pass upon
the Fate of Incurables
A
By ADA PATTERSON
SMALL stricken woman,
white and , pinched of tacek
unable to rise from tbi bed
to which palu nd nelple-sness ,ave
chained her ot turee years, has
; tered a cry tnat Is ecb-lng round H
world.
Afrs, Sarah Harris, at thirtv-flve,
was fetled to earth as suddenly and
. surely as lightning shatters an oak.
i But, Mrs. Harris thinks, more cruel
;Iy,' for the lightning riven oak dies,
.and she has lived for three years,
lived helplessly,; unwillingly, merely
; lived. ; She .cannot recover, more
doctors than .ehe can "recall have
told her. Life has; become a burden
to heri for; the three years that she
i has lain there walling to die. Since
. nature la so slow to relieve her of
'the heavy weight of, life she begs
New. York to do bo. . She asks the
State to become her executioner.
"End my suffering and my help
lessness' she says, and that voice
from tUe Coi at Audubon Sanitarium
v rung through all the civilized
world. "I am hopelessly paralyzed.
Great doctors and surgeons, I can't
remember how many, an army of
them, have told me that there Is not
the slightest chance that I can get
well. They tell me that I am likely
to live for a long, long time. But I
don't want to live.
. "My baby died when it was
eleven months old because I was
stricken and could not take care of
It Had I been put out of the way,
gentjy and mercilessly, when
case was found hopeless, the child
might still be alive. It might have
grown to be of some use In the
world, while I am worse than use
less. I have two other little ones,
but I do not permit them to come to
see me, for they are young and im
pressionable and I don't want them
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'THE COURT OF DEATH"
i ' v!iJy 1
WHO
Dorothy Kerin, tbe English Girl Who, aftar Being Helples Paralytic for Fivo Yean, and Blind and
Deaf for Two Weeks, "Saw a I&ht," and Was Immediately Cared. This Photograph Shows Her
Two Days after. Such Case at Theso Art tho Great Stumbling Blocks ia the Way of Euthanasia-
to know there is anything as grew
some as myself In the world.
"I am a burden to my family,
both financially and as an unending
emotional drain.
"So I claim the right to die. I lie
here unable to move a muscle, so
camnot end my own misery. I ask
the State to devise some means, to
rid me of the horror of my life."
Mrs. Sarah Sypher, who asphyxi
ated her children and tried, but
failed, to end her own life in the
same way, made, the plea that, two .
at least of her children were better '
dead, as she would be.
"I was born under melancholy
circumstances," she said. "I was
cursed with a morbidly sensitive
nature. My little girl inherited it.
My older son bad 'spells,' tantrums, r
and he, too, was unhappy. Such
natures should never have been
born. They are treading the path
of nervous prastratlon and vner-
vous prostration and Insanity are
one." .
Jacob Hess, sirty-Beven, and
struggling hopelsBly against pov- .
erty, killed himself and his two
elder children. To his wife, whose
life, with that of their youngest
child, a babe, he spared, he wrote:
"Take the money In the bank and
go back to Germany "with the kind
chea. You can manage to feed one
but not three. I am old and useless. -I
(take with me the two children so
that you will not be burdened by
them."
"TORCHLIGHTS ON
EUTHANASIA'S DARK PATH."
These three cases, all part of the
news chronicles of a week ip Great
er New York, are torchlights flaring
upon the dark path of euthanasia.
In this art of painless death science
has long been Interested. It is as
old as the Roman civilization which
practiced It, and the period of the
beautiful Greeks who ended their
lives when life was to longer de
sirable to them. Their physicians
prescribed it amd their philosophers
practised It. The' world has beeu
raguely interested in it as a fasci
nating, though abstract theme, but
recently individuals have applied It
to their personal problems.
It has been by two of these plead
ers for euthanasia, taken off tbe -plane
of mere physiology. They
have offered it as a cure for socio
logical conditions.
With their argument that painful
life should '' be . voluntarily brought
to an end by painless death, that In
curable conditions should be ended
by the great cureall of all conscious
conditions, death, may agree.
Those wjio agree maintain that
"while life is a battle with a chance
to win, every man should prove ,
himself a hero. But when cancer,"
In. its hopeless stage, or paralysis
beyond cure afflicts him, or when
that social condition that makes it
impossible for him to earn a living
for himself and his own has gripped
him, the advocates of this doctrine
believe that he Is a hero as well
who, by ending his life at will, out
wits the lurking,, tedious enemy,
death.
Again and again physicians have
asserted their belief that It was
their duty, when patients, and the
families of the patients, wished to
The Six Great Physicians
the District-Attorney. Life
terminate prolonged suffering, to
end that Buffering by merciful
means. As it is humane to chloro
form a ' consumptive kitten, or to
shoot a dog that is being slowly
tortured to death, so, they argue, It
is humane 'to end tbe suffering
among those of the highest form of
animal life.
Leaving out the spiritual element,
Considering the welfare of humanity
on a purely scientific basis, this
strong doctrine is in line with the
forward march of better oondltlans
for life, ns Is the doctrine of eugen-
ics and the elimination of the unfit,
another form of euthanasia.
The arguments for this means of
relief from conditions that are hope
less and almost uneiudrable, seem
unanswerable In the cold upper air
of science. Yet occasionally a case
like that of Dorohty Kerin appears
to be an answer.
Dorothy Kerinr an English girl of
twenty-one, was apparently In
stantaneously cured of seemingly
hopelss conditions of paralysis,
blindness and deafness. For seven
years this girl had been an invalid.
For five years she had. been bed
ridden by, paralysis. For two years
ehe had not walked. For two weeks
she had been blind and deaf. The
last of the twenty-eight physicians
who had attended her and had pro
nounced her case utterly hopeleRS,
had told her family that she could
live at most for six hours.
Yet, suddenly, to. the amazement
of her family and the consternation
of tin physician, Bhe arose from
what they were convinced was her
deathbed and walked -about the
room in full possesssion of all ber
faculties. Moreover, she has not
returned to her bed except for eight
hours of sound sleep from the
twenty-four of each day. The prettl-,
ness she lost during the long Illness
has come back. She looks scarcely
seventeen. She runs up and down
stairs, makes her own bed, assists in
the cooking, lays the table and sits
down before it, eating mutton chops
aoid sliced tomatoes with a robust ,
appetite.
"TWENTY EIGHT
PUZZLED DOCTORS."
The attending physician has n'Jt
yet fully, recovered from bis stupe
faction. "I have no theory," he said
with a shake of the head. "Had I
read of the case I should certainty
not have believed it. She is well,
but bow she got so I don't know. I
can only say that I cannot claim any
credit for the extraordinary occur
ence. Under my care the patient
lived for months on brandy, opium
and starch. Her muscles were
without strength. Now they have
the strength of a normal, healthy
girl. Where it comes from I do not
know."
The otber twenty-seven physicians
also shake their heads and make
the brief speech: "I don't knew."
Medical men have travelled by
scores to the girl's home at Heme
Hill, near London, to examine her
' and t3 study her case. Dr. Frank C.
Richardson, professor of nervous
diseases In BoRton University, said
of it:
"Dorothy Kerin had none of the
organic diseases which she was said
to have bad. She .was suffering
and Surgeons Sitting as a Jury upon the "Incurable." Death
the Counsel for the Defense.
t ,.
from a curable mental or nervous
disease which would have been
cured If a nerve specialist had
been called In. How she was actual
ly cured Is a simple matter. In
stead of being persuaded to the irao
tise of common sense, she struggled
back to It herself. Maybe one of her
hysterical emotions set in aotlon
this course to health, as I believe
otber emotions dragged her away
from health and her mind from rea
son. This 1b no miracle. It is &
common occurrence. These poor
victims of mimic illnesses come to
their senses as swiftly as they lost
them. Under scientific treatment
for the real functional disorder, not
useless ' dabbling with misleading
symptoms, their, recovery is much
quicker. i
"Dorothy Kerin, like all others
afflicted with mimic diseases, has
beyond doubt an unstable disposi
tion. She Ited a nervous system un
duly responsive to every Influence,
that Is, she was easily Impression
able. 1 From these Impressions
weighing upon her, ahe acquired the
- Idea that she could not do certain
things and that she was suffering
from other things. V
"THE REAL
CAUSE THE MIND."
"A famous clergyman, whose elo
quence stirred Boston a few years
ago believed he had paralysis of the
lower limbs. The paralysis was ap- ,
parent. For a year and a half he
was attended by physicians of skill
and Integrity. Finally we located
the real cause his mind. By gradu
al, persuasive treatment he was
brought back to a normal condition.
He was on his legs again and now
be is preaching In a Western State."
Dr. Richardson's scientific pre
sentment Is really tbe answering
argument to the theory favoring eu
thanasia. Suppose the disease be
an imaginary one. Or assume, as in
the case of all Dorothy Kerin's
twenty-eight physicians, : who Dr.
Richardson said were all right as far
they went, but they didn't go far
enough in their treatment, that
- physicians' who held the scales of
the chances for life In their hands
were all mistaken.
Dorothy Kerin believed that she
was death doomed. So did twenty
eight reputable physicians. Yet all
of these twenty-nine were mistaken.
Suppose that Dorothy Kerin and
her twenty-eight physicians agreed
that life had lost all savor for the
girt and It was for her welfare she
die. Murder would have been com
mitted with gopd intent.
Growing out of this argument of
. the possible mistake of the patient
or the patient's physicians, Is the
other that while science might be
unable to ctpe with a . disease at
noon on Monday that by 6 o'clock
, of that evening there might be a
. medical discovery that would revo? ;
lutiontze practice in the direction of ,
thla disease, and the patient, self- ;
. doomed and doctor-doomed, might be ,
saved.
Another possibility looms large
and menacing. This Is the unscrup
ulous use of the power to end life ,
that Is no longer desired. As hyp- "
notlsm is dangerous in possession of
the unprincipled, this right to close
an- existence might be a hundred
fold more menacing. Test such right
in unworthy persons and how often
. might the pretext of ending life for
humane reasons cover a murder for
personal gain or revenge?
Assuming that in a scientific
sense It is right to terminate life
under the hopeless conditions de
scribed, how can it be justly and
safely done? Who would constitute,
and how should fee administered the
business of, the court of death?
Dr. John McCroskery, a trustee of
the New York State Hospital for In
cipient Pulmonary Tuberculosis,
said : "Viewing tbe matter from a
medical standpoint, It is my opinion
that it would be a good plan to se
cure the passage of a law that would
give a physician the right to Submit
any extreme case be may have under
, his care to a committee composed of
a Justice of the Supreme Court, the 4,
District Attorney and the Coroner.
. If after a minute Investigation the
patient was found to be hopelessly
111, and suffering great pain, and in
sisted that the deed be done, I think
it would be the most humane course
to relieve him of his sufferings."
The acting medical superintendent
of St. Luke's Hospital favored a Jury
chosen by the Government, com
posed of in part, at least, two medi
cal men.
"After the case had been presented
to tbe jury and the absolute cer
tainty of its being incurable ascer
tained, then, with the patient's con-
sent, t would say tbe Jury should de-
clde whether or not the Individual
should die," was Dr. McAlplp's con
clusion. ..-
"COURT OF DEATH MIGHT BE
A BENEFICENT BODY."
Both men suggest a court of
death. Composed of humane men,
of intelligence and common sense,
persons with no tendency to flights
of fancy nor excursions into the
realm of the impossible, this com
mittee of fate might be a beneficent
body.
It would be the part of humanity,
to permit the patient to choose the
manner of death." The chloroform
cone, so swift and merciful to some
instances, would be a means of tor
ture in others. The individual
choice becomes fixed and the mere
suggestion of another method would
make the dying person's last mo
ments horrible. Gas and tfther, like
wise, have their friends, and foes.
The aid of electricity might be sum
moned were it not that the electric
chair, associated with crime and
: degradation, would revolt the sen
. 8itlve. In Utah and Nevada, where
, choice of . the means of death Is
granted to condemned criminals,
shooting Is nearly always chosen. "It
is sooner over," Is tbe explanation of
' this almost unanimous choice:
If Sarah Harris's cry Is heeded
New York will establish a court of
death. But already the world old
battle between science and sentl-'
ment has begun. Mrs. Harris's fam
. lly oppose such a step. "She may
; get well," they say. ". hile there is
life there is hope."
The pka that human life trans
cends science is being made in the
case of Sarah Harris vs. the State
of New York.
And there Is the nub of It all
the incurable hopefulness of man
kind In the face of death. .