The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-10-09

to put him Ous OF misery. What would
the insurance companies say to this? If
General Grant asked for an easy death
from opiates, and thus necessarily
fastened one. the public paid no regard
to the fact that it was so arranged. be-
cause they had and have perfect coo.i-
dence in his physicians. But suppose
the practice to become general. do YOU
suppose that serious errors of diagnosis
would not be made? lean tell you of
hundreds of cases where the diagnosis
of diseases is directly contradicted by
the autopsy, and where the true nature
of the complaint was not suspected
even when the patient was in ertremis."
Another physician thought that hui
mainly required alienation from pain,
even where life was shortened bv the
use of sedatives. But" said he, '.this
is true only in those cases where the re-
suit will be death within limited period,
and the very wisest Judgment must be
used in the matter. As rule narcotic
drugs shorten life, and the fact that q
patient suffers pain does not in itself
furnish An excuse for using them As
for directly killing man to save him
from suffering. the responsibility is, in
my judgment. too great for any single
medical man to assume"
An old practitioner related q case IN
which a young Boston physician had
given patient heavy doses of opiates
for quieting and shortening case of
painful and, rs he believed, incurable
disease. and was surprised to find that
the patient got well. e!ived for seven
years after he had begged to be allowed
to die from euthanasia. land the most
curious part of the matter" said the
doctor. ''lay in the fact that the opiates
cured him. In SO carefully treated case
rs that of General Grant euthanasia was
perfectly proper, but in more obscure
cases Of disease. in the hands - less emil
nent physicians. there would be ele-
ments of danger"
A physician of large general expe-
rience said that sixty per cent. of the pa
tients who die while under the treatment
of able modern physicians are at the time
of death under the direct influence of
narcotic oralcOholic stimulation. MANY
persons, said he, "who would not give
their direct consent to the killing of 3
sick friend, and it is killing, cannot find
it in their hearts to permit him to die in
agony; they know that the doctor is
giving the needed narcotics, and they
ignore the fact. To nv mind the doctor
would neglect his duty did he fail to
give the sedatives called for in the case;
if doctors can not cure man they should
make death easy IS soon rs they are
convinced that the case is hopeless"
Two Of the doctors thought that the
practice IF defective stimulation" rs
they called the fastening of death bv
narcotics, had grown so rapidly that
there was danger that it might be used
without due consideration. They
Thought the advice of at least two con-
sulting physicians of recognized ability
should be had before any course Of mar
cotics designed to end in death should
be entered upon. They held that the
practice WAS already carried to its full
limit, and thought that the un9uestion-
ing attitude of the public concerning the
open stimulation Of General Grant, how
ever proper 1t may have been, would
encourage doctors of incautious or in
consequential habits to go too far in the
matter.
One If our oldest physicians thought
that one of the chief difficulties in the
practical Use of cuthansia WAS to decide
where and how to limit it. I'm the ar
ticle YOU have shown me-" said he, -
requisite for the practice of an3sthesia
consists in the consent of the patient.
But suppose the patient to be an insane
person. who is about to experience long
and agonizing death. He is incapable
that reason. deprive him of the benefits
of eutl.anasia? And how long would it
be before YOUR euthanas;c principle
would be extended to the hopeless par
alytics who are, as your writer SAYS. of
no use to others and burden to them
selves?' Would YOU kill them. also?
And where does the law come in? If
YOU shorten y mans life YOU kill him.
Has a doctor the right 10 kill man any
more than you have? have often felt
it within my line of duty to give mar
cotrcs in hopeless cases, while knowing
that they must necessarily and cOnsid-
erably shorten the life of my patient. 1
have often asked myself how far would
be legally responsible for doing so should
confess the act. have often thought.
also, siuce the practice of deathbed
stimulants has become SO common and
doctors SO numerous. that eases might
easily arise where nunscrupulOus ply
sician would be tempted to help man
rid himself of his wife-or his mother
in-law"
"What method would you propose"
asked the reporter, for keeping euthan-
asia within ju>iiiable limits?"
.'Oh. Idon't know" said the medical
man. How would it do to get two
medical certificates stating the certain
approach of death. and Judges per-
NIT to kill dying man with narcotics?"
N. !. Sun.