The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-24

I claim that man has a right to COM
NIT suicide without being called fool
or insane.
"A physician should never yield to q
patients pleading for death unless he
knows that the disease is incurabie. My
critics raise the question of the fallihility
Of q physicians Judgment. There are
some cases In which the physician can
rot make mistake For instance, he
cannot be deceived by the into1erable
agonies of the final stage of external
cancer. He knows the hopeless last
stages of phthisis. He knows when the
death throes of heart disease are ap-
preaching. In other cases, when there
is the slightest doubt. heoshould call in
q consulting physician. Il L have relieved
the suffering of a good many patients In
the course Of my thirtX-fNe years prac-
tice. 1 shall not say "a dozen, nor more
nor less, and thus bring dewn a further
rain of criticism. 1e!9r y
"a patient who was aneaF the end with
consumption sent for dne.e. She begged
that 1 would not let her suffer the last
terrible pangs Of the disease. Her hus-
band begged the same, favor as piteously
as she. l saw that she could not live
more than day or two. I administered
chloroform. 1 kept her under the in
f1uence of it from 10 o'clock at night until
the end. She died at the next morning
died peacefully and without pain, and
her husband thanked me when 1t was
over / had Il friend, woman whom
had known all my life. Tatterly she
was afflicted with heart disease. She
asked rue to promise that when her final
Illness came would not allow her to
suffer as she had seen others suffer FROM
heart disease at the last. I promised
When the end came attended her and
kept my word. She sent for me at 10
O clock one morning. I administered
chloroform continuously.. When evening
came she passed quietly and painlessly
away. ] had kept my promise, and I
was glad 1 did. ~
When I was surgeon in the Federal
army / was assistant officer in charge
Of Union hospital in the South. One
of our boys was brought In one day,
literally almost shot to pieces. His stom-
ach was shot away. There was not the
slightest hope that he would recover. He
begged that would put him out of his
misery" I gave him chioeoform. 1t was
a humane act. Such cases might be null
tiplied, but I will not shock my critics by
enumerating them. Suffice 1t to say that
/ think the physician who will not relieve
the death agonies of, say, case Of ex-
ternal cancer. is brutek
Physicians speak of giving morphine to
allay pain. In the advanced stages Of
some diseases-of which I instance ex-
ternal cancer-the powers Of absorption
are practically destroyed. Morphine can
not be administered with any effect.
1 have always used chtoroform in such
cases. 1t dulls the sensitive nerves and
the spinal cord and arrests the heart
action in systole. Its action Is gentle.
Such cases are beyond and above the
law They are not contemplated by 1t.
They are to be settled. at the bar Of the
physicians own Judgment.
AS for the moral or religious aspect Of
the case. 1t Is still a matter to be settled
by the individual. To be sure, there is In
the decaloguc a commandment, Thou
shalt not kill" But there are circum-
stances under which killing is admissible.
The United States takes that stand in
her war policy. She is, killing Filipinos
daily in what she calls humane war.
She executes criminals. Her laws excuse
murder done in self-defense.
Hence l contend that killing. If you
must call 1t 80, to end a patients in