St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-18

for Operating Surgeons.
The death of Mrs. Mary Schumacher.
wife of }. Ill. Scliurmeier, of 412 Rosabel
street, ST. Paul, is occaSiODlng no end of
discussion among the members of the
medical fraternity of both cities. Yes
terday forenoon there was post NOR
TEN over the remains at the, county
morgue, and the jury comprised four
well-known physicians. Drs. Z. ID. Al
drich, w. II. Leonard. c. Simpson and
l.. A. Nippert. also Capt. }. FL. Tidd
and Warren Dunbar. Coroner Spring
decided that owing to the complications
and technicality of the case. the physi-
clans OH the jury would tend to more
| accuracy and knowledge of the medical
| evidence adduced. Coroner WhiicOmb
| and his deputy, of Ramsey county, DIR.
| Finnell, were present.
| Health Commissioner Kelley, of this
| city, who signed the certificate of death,
F.! was the first witness. He stated that
| the certificate turned in Ivy DR.: Law
| renee gave the cause of death As cancer
of the stomach and other complications
! and that there was nothing in the doc
! tors statement to lead him to believe
that an operation had been performed
| upon the deceased. Under those cir
cumStances he had given the necessary
sanction to the death certificate.
| H. G. Schumacher, stepson of the de-
/ ceased, testified that he had paid DR..
| Lawrence $3.50 for services, and showed
the receipts tor tie amount paid.
Dr.. Lawrence, proprietor of the SAM
tarium where the operation which
caused the death of Mrs. Schurmeir was
performed. took the stand. and his evil
dence was as follows:
He first met Mrs. Schurmeier Feb. 2S,
when she consulted him. He had
found that all pain Mrs. Schumacher
was suffering was referable to the
stomach, and also humorous growth in
the region of the uterus. He had ad-
vsed an operation for the removal of
the tumor. Such an operation was de-
cided upon, and on Saturday last, the
10th inst. Mrs. Schurmeier went to the
sanitalium for preparatory treatment.
The operation was performed Oh Tues
day afternoon by Drs. G. u. Higbee,
himself and w. ID. Leonard and four as
SiStantS, besides the nurses. Mrs.
Schumacher was removed to her room
and restoratives applied, and the pa
tient cared for by a competent nurse.
until her death. At no time after the
operation did the patients temperature
go above 102, nor below normal. We
found it impossible for her to retain any
nouriShment, as she vomited after the
I administration Of the least quantity of
food; the pain was pronounced over
| tie region of the stomach. but there was
none over the region of tie abdominal
, lnciSion; no chill was experienced: lie
sweating, no unconscious condition at
| any time. Thursday afternoon, about {
O'clock. after having rested quietly fol
some time. the patient began to vomit
bile, and this continued almost inces.
sanity until the stomach was washed
out. This gave relief TO the severe pain
of which she complained, and she said
she was feeling perfectly easy. No food
had been given into the stomach fol
, twelve hours previous to this, owing to
the nausea, but it had been injected in
an effort and hope to keep up strength.
! Mrs. Schumacher rested nicely until s1C
O'Clock in the morning, when the nurse
Il found her pulse weaker. DIR. Lawrence
was called and administered stlmulants
and indicated medicines. In spite of
all that could be done she sank rapidly,
and died about O'Clock in the morn
I
was performed by DR.. Higbee, of ST.
Paul, and lasted about an hour and a
half, possibly little longer.
l DR.. Einnell stated that he made the
post mortem at st. Paul at the instance
of Coroner Whitcomb, who was present
officially. He was assisted in making
the examination by Drs. REM, O'Hage
and Nelson. He found the body to be
that of well nOurished woman. The
witness proceeded at some length to
give technical description of the con-
cd the stomach of the deceased, showing
it was not cancerous and was in a
healthy condition, except slightly ca
| tarrhal.
DR.. Finnell declared positively that
death was caused by septic peritOnitiS.
Mr.. Laybourn, the attorney who repre-
sented DR.. Lawrence, asked permission
to ask the witness some questions, but
DR.. Spring refused to allow it, stating
that it was not his intention to go into
] expert testimony at that time. DR.. Fin
nell had been called merely TO tell what
! he found when the body was examined
in st. Paul. DR.. w. E. Leonard. who,
with Drs. FInneIl and Wilcox, made
post mortem inspection of the
body, corroborated the testimony
given by DIR. Finnell. He did not
agree with him as to the cause OF
de tn, however, stating that there did
not appear to be enough evidence to
warrant him to say that death was
caused by septic pertOnitis. He was
more inclined to believe with DR.. Law
renee that death was due to exhaustion.
DIR. Wilcox differed from DR.. Leonard.
He was OF the opinion that death was
| caused by general sepsis. DR.. Higbee,
! who was one of the physicians who per-
| formed the operation on Mrs. Schur-
| meier, was next called TO the witness
stand. His testimony is given below:
II have heard DR.. Lawrence's testi-
| mony, and L would like to add some
thing TO it. In speaking with Mrs.
Schurmeler, she asked whether there
was danger i'll this operation. /
answered yes; that there was danger in
| ali operations, and that we never could
tell how they would result; that we
often found complications on opening
the abdomen thatl it was not possible TO
| determine beforehand. They aSSented
to that, and Mrs. s. said she was glad to
have me perform the operation and
would trust to favorable result"
The doctor also proceeded to give
technical description of the operation.
! DR.. Higbee's evidence was the last
p, offered. The case was then submitted
l
dered:
1.-The said Mrs. J. II. Schurmeier died
March 16, 1894. death being due to septic
peritonits, the result of a surgical Oper-
alton performed for the removal Of
uterine tumor."
| The verdict was something of a dis
appointment to Coroner Whitcomb and
MIR. Schumacher. Coroner Spring stated
| he would not institute proceedings, but
| it is understood that Mr.Schurmeier will
endeavor to get out warrants for DR..
I Lawrence and the other physicians who
assisted IN the operation. DR.. Finneu
was considerably wrought up over the
affair and said:
"If the grand jury Of Hennepin county
does not indict DIR. Lawrence for homi-
] eide / will appear before the state
| medical board to see that his license is
revoked"
] DR.. Lawrence attributes the whole
matter to the professional jealousy on