Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-12
SURE SIGNS OF DEATH.
There Are None, and the Most Skill
full Doctors May Make Mistakes.

There Are None, and the Most Skill
full Doctors May Make Mistakes.
From the Chicago Tribune.
Apparent death from an electric shock"
said physician in discussing the case OF
the workman on the Metropolitan IL, rs
one of the most deceptive things in the
world. Those who opposed the employ
ment of electricity for the infection 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 Richardson, who,
in an address before the Medical Society
Of London some years ago on The Abso-
lutte Signs of Death" took a strong posi-
ton against the employment of electricity
in the case of murderers and asserted
that as the result of series Of careful
experiments he had been forced to the
conclusion that it could not be relied upon
mails, he had found, could be killed without
any difficulty, but sheep upon which the
experiment had been tried subsequently re-
vived, and he was unable to fix upon a
voltage sufficiently great to insure death.
Sometimes, he Sa1d the current would pro-
duce a mere scorching, while in other in
stances the subject would 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 decomposition
has set in, or where body Is so injured as
to put the matter beyond question, there Is
always possibility of error. No physician
should sign death certificate in the case
of a patient unless he was present at the
final moment, or unless he has made an
examination after death is reported by
those in attendance, although 1 know this
precaution is not always taken. 1 have
never had nny cases of recovery after ap-
have 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 student at young
ladies' seminary. He was unable to respond
Immediately, and upon his arrival he was
met at the entrance by one of the young
Woman's fellow students, who said: It's no
use, now, doctor, She is gone He went to
the room. where he found the girl lying as
II 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. pronounced her dead
But the girl as the doctors learned, was SUBJ
5ect to attacks of what is known as grave
hysteria, ard it was during one of these
attacks that she had apparently passed
away. Considering that under the circum-
stances the evidences of death were by no
means conclusive, he resorted to artificial
respiration, with the result that the girl
recovered completely and became q strong
and healthy woman. Examples of this
kind. while by no means common, are suf-
flciently 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 its hands by a professor in
the University Of Rome was made by the
Academy of Sciences of Paris for an essay
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 by a prolonged
absence of beatings of the heart upon aus
cultation; that Is to say. by listening either
with or without the stethoscope. 1t was re-
qufred, of course, that the auscultation
should be performed by a physician. but
this test was soon shown to be unreliable
by numerous cases in which it was tried.
The Paris Academy of Medicine has had for
number of years a standing prize of sew
eral thousand francs bequeathed to it by
some marquis for a solution of the same
great problem, but 1t has never been award
ed"