The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-17
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEST.

Chelsea promises to furnish a case
to test the legal status of Christian
Scientists in Massachusetts. The wife
of Col. Charles c. Rivers, assistant sur
veyor Of the port of Boston, was strick-
en- with paralysis Thursday, and her
husband called a regular physician.
| who prescribed for and left her. The
next morning the physician was in
formed that other doctors" had been
called and his services would not be
needed, so, of course he kept away.
The treatment he had prescribed was
discontinued and a Christian Scientist
said to be a graduate of Mrs. Eddy's
! Boston school, took charge of the case
at Mrs. Rivers request, The same day
the patient had second shock. and
| on Saturday the regular physician
was again summoned, but Mrs. Rivers
| died that night. The physician then
refused to sign the certificate of death,
as any practitioners might naturally
have done under similar circumstances,
whether the second physician called
had been Christian Scientist or of
some other school. The duty then de-
volved upon the asst mt medical ex-
aminer, who GER hat death was
caused by 'nes nd referred the
| case to the district al -orney for Suffolk
county.
What official action will be taken in
| the matter remains to be seen, but
there are two or three reasons to JUS
| tify the serenity Of the Christian
Scientists, who say that nothing will
come of it. First of all is the HberaIity
! Of the laws relating to medical prac-
tice in the commonwealth, even under
| the statute requiring the registration of
physicians Another is the fact that
mind cure has a recognized place in
the practice of medicine, and it is not
easy to define by statute or in a court
of law the dividing line between use
and abuse, especially since experts and
| psychologists OF repute have testified to
the intimate connection between mind
cure" Christian Science and hypnotism.
Finally there is the indisputable fact
| that the patient might have died even
IF the Chelsea physician had continued
without interruption in charge of the
case. His statement is that Mrs.
| Rivers had fifty chances in a hundred"
| for recovery, and while it is true that
patients often survive a single stroke
of paralysis, it appears that Mrs.
Rivers suffered a second on the day
following the first, and all theorizing
as to what might have happened if the
Scientist had kept out of the case,
would seem either too technical or too
speculative for discussion save by
professionals.
The trouble is that the kernel of truth
in the mind cure" idea has been suffi-
Gent to lead many excellent and even
learned people into the extremes of alb
surdity and has resulted, no doubt. in
instances of fragrant malpractice: but
for all that it would be next to i'm
possible to lay down rigid laws as to
where the good ends and the evil be-
gins. There are limitations to the law
as to everything else, and when it at
tempts to legislate common sense into
people or to protect men and women
from their own folly, rather than from
the vaccination and fraud of others
it is apt to become unpopular and diff
cult of enforcement, and the wisdom of
lit may be questioned. Some things nust
be left to the individual to decide ro,.
himself