The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-06-28
AN APOLOGY FOR SUICIDE.

Some time ago we commented upon pam
phlet issued in Europe in justification of the
crime of suicide under certain circumstances.
published under the auspices of the .'Birming-
ham (Eng) Speculative Club" bearing the
fascinating title of Euthunasia, but which
might have been called 50 An Apology For
Suicide" The text on which the author
dilates is That in all cases of hopeless and
painful illness it should be the recognized duty
of the medical attendant, whenever so desired
by the patient, to administer chlorotorm, or
such other anasthetic as may by and by super
sede chloroform, SO as to destroy conscious
ness at once and put the sufferers to uick
and painless death; all needful precautions
being adopted to prevent any possible abuse
of such duty; and means being taken to estab-
lish beyond the possibility of doubt or ques-
ton that the remedy was appl., d at the ex-
press wish Of the patient.
Referring to this startling proposition, the
New York Herald makes the following appro-
pirate remarks:
1t can scarcely surprise any one versed in
insanity that the exponent of such diseased
philosophy as this should have proclivity to
suicidal mania the only anamoly in this case
is desire to have his felo de performed vicari-
ously, as if doctors hadn't enough deaths
secondum drtem on their consciences without
taking to avowed homicide. But We would
fain believe that respectable majority Of u1an-
kind still preserves n sufficiently healthy tone
of mind to deny that &c the veil that hides the
future from us is probably the one thing that
saves us from despair" and to enjoy gratefully
the pleasant things of to-day without brooding
over the possible discomforts of the future.
. As regards the application of the author s
killing no murder" to cases of dangerous
and painful Illness two practical difficulties
present themselves: one from the physician 8
standpoint, the other from a non-professional
point Of view. In the first place, there are
very few instances in which illness can, with
certainty, be pronounced hopeless" Most
medical men have seen enough unexpected re-
coveries after patients had been apparently in
drticudo morris to render them cautious about
deciding a clients fate at all events, to deter
them from wilfully accelerating it. In the
second place, the patients mind is almost
always more or less unhinged by disease and
suffering and there are hundreds who would
choose anesthetic death to relieve them from
present PAIN but whose way of thinking is
changed by even mitigation of their anguish.
As an illustration, We have recently known of
case wherein a seemingly moribund octo-
genarian was so averse from being kept alive
as to refuse nourishment and to resent the
cruelty of the attendants in administering food
and medicine perforce; and yet, having rallied
under such gentle violence, this would-be sui
eide was within forty-eight hours fancying an
sppetizing bill Of fare and forming plans for
future pleasures.
In cases manifestly beyond the reach of
remedial agents, as in the last stages of pain
full maladies, it is the customary medical prac-
tee to promote euthanasia as far as may be
done short of granddaughter; beyond this may
not go a profession whose mission is to pre-
serve life, not to shorten it, and which even in
its efforts to relieve pain must bear in view the
ultimate safety of the patient Those who
think with the demented author of this strange
pamphlet (and we are glad to believe that out
side of q lunatic asylum they are very few in
number) may easily find the means, if they
have the resolution, for self-destructon; but
they viii hardly gain the aid or countenance
Of medical men or Legislators until the world
at large be moonstruck-