The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-21
SURE SIGNS OF DEATH.
There Are None, and the Most Skill
full Doctors May Make Mistakes.
From the Chieago Tribune.

full Doctors May Make Mistakes.
From the Chicago Tribune.
Apparent death from an electric
shock" said a physician in discussing the
case of the workman on the Metropolitan
Il" lis one of the most deceptive things
in the world. Those who opposed the EN-
ployment of electricity for the infiction
of capital punishment in New York were
able to cite the opinions of some of the
most eminent authorities on this subject,
among them Sir Benjamin Ward Richard
son, who, in an address before the Medical
Society in London some years ago on
The Absolute Signs OF Death, took a
strong position against the employment or
electricity in the case OF murderers, ana
asserted that as the result OF a series OF
careful experiments he had been forced 10
the conclusion that it could not be relied
upon to produce death. Birds and small
animals, he had found, could be killed
without any difficulty, but sheep upon
which the experiment mad been tried sub
sequentiy revived. and he was unable 10
insure death. Sometimes, he said, the
current would produce mere scorching,
while in other instances the subject woulG
be thrown into a cataleptic state from
which he would subsequently recover.
THE fact is that when we are asked to
say definitely what constitutes DEATH so
far as outward and visible signs go we
doctors must confess with the rest OF man
kind that we can make no conclusive an
sWer any more than we can If you ask us
to define life Except where decom position
has set in, or where BODY is so injured as
to put the matter beyond question, there is
always a possibility of error. No physician
should sign a death certificate in the case
of patient unless he was present at the
| tinal moment, or unless he has made an
examination after death is reported by
those in attendance, although l know this
precautions is not always taken. l have
never had any cases of recovery after APP
parent death in my own practice but l
nave known of them, and many others are
recorded, For example, there is the in
stance OF physician in New York city
who was called to see a student at a young
ladies' seminary. He was unable TO re-
spond Immediately, and upon his arrival
he was met at the entrace by one OF the
young Woman's fellow students who said:
It's no use now, doctor, she's gone He
went TO the room, where he found the
girl lying as If dead. Her face was white
and her heart had ceased to beat The
other physician in attendance, who was
present when the change took place, pro-
nounced her dead.
But the girl, as the doctors learned.
was subject TO attacks of what is known
as grave hysteria, and it was during one
OF these that she had apparently passed
away Considering that, under the CIR
cumstanceS the evidences of death were
by no means conclusive, ne resorted to ar
uhcial respiration, with the result that
the girl recovered completely and became
a strong and healthy woman. Examples
of that kind, while by no means common,
are suflclently numerous to show the
danger in which friends and physicians
are constantly placed of making mistakes
of the most shocking nature.
Some years ago an award which had
been placed in it's hands by a professor in
the University of Rome was made by the
Academy of Sciences of Paris for
an esay on the question, What is
an Infallible Sign of Death? In
the essay for which the award
was made it was asserted that death
could always be determined upon pro
longed absence of beating of the heart
upon auscultation; that is to say. by list
ening either with or without the stetho-
scope. 1t was required, of course, that the
auscultation should be performed by
physician, but this test was soon shown
to be unreliable by numerous cases in
which 1t was tried. The Paris Academy
of Medicine has had for a number Of
years a standing prize of several thou
sand francs, bequeathed to 1t by some
MARQUIS for a solution of the same great
problem. but ii has never haen q No rdod