The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-12
SHOULD DEATH BE FASTENED?
DOCTORS DISAGREE WITH JUDGE
BALDwIN's BELIEF.

W hbhSCS ny
pulous-patients Are often Saved
for Useful Lives After They Have
Seemed to BE About to Die.
From the New York Herald.
Judge Simeon z. Baldwin of Connecticut.
who delivered an address before the Amer
lean Association of Social Science at Sara
toga on Sunday, in which he advanced the
opinion that persons on the verge of death
and apparently doomed 10 die should be
| allowed to die. instead of having their life
| prolonged, has stirred the physicians of
this city, and most of those who were
willing 10 express an opinion disagreed
with him. Many asked the same question
| that Dr. Robert F. Weir did.
Who is to tell' he asked, whether the
end is near or is Inevitable within a few
hours OF days? When Judge Baldwin
makes the assertion that there are certain
maladies that naturally end in speedy
death, but may be protracted by physi-
clans through a long period of weakness,
during which the patient may greatly suf-
| fer, he is making an assumption which
| the best Informed physician is not always
/ capable of determining, Few doctors are
| able TO declare definitely that person will
| die when death appears to be near at
hand, although all the indications may
! point that way.
| Now, who is to be responsible for de-
| termining this-whether a person should
| be put out of his misery? l fear that II
| would place an added responsibility upon
| the medical profession which it would be
unwilling to bear"
There Is Hope With Life.
DR.. George F. Shrady was seen at home,
| near Saugertes. and his attention was
called to the address of Judge Baldwin.
DIR. Shrady was surprised to learn that
| such opinions could be seriously enter
tained either from a legal or a medical
| standpoint
He differed radically from the learned
| judge in every particular, and said that
| the instinct for life which exists at all
| hazards against all odds could not be
| gainsaid by any argument of expediency.
| He doubted If the speaker himself would
| be a consistent advocate of such views
| if he himself were stricken with a mortal
| illness.
"All arguments against fear of DEATH"
| he said ARE stronger when uttered by
| one in good health. The fact is patients
| may beg for death sometimes in cases
Of extreme agony, simply because they
| cannot realize what death is. Death is
| generally invited also when the doctor is
out of hearing. 1t is always a long dis
| lance CALL without good connections, and
| the sufferer cannot be supposed to mean
| what he says, especially if he has either
collie govt or toothache.
"Who is to take the responsibility of de-
Gliding when death is inevitable? The ply
| stefan sees the most desperate cases so
| often recover that he naturally hesitates
| in giving up hope. His efforts in sue
cessfully fighting death make him 10 the
last degree optimistic and resourceful.
| He is educated to believe that no dis
ease must be considered absolutely in
durable until death actually comes to
| prove the contrary.
Thanks to the wonderful advances
made in the healing art, there are no
good reasons for men to continue to suf-
| fer, even with incurable diseases. Pain
can be overcome in countless ways and
disabilities can be counteracted by many
cunning contrivances of operative pro-
cedure.
Medicine and surgery are progressing
all the time, and it will require more for
chile arguments than those offered by the
| judge TO prove that the medical profess
| sion is wrong in its persistent attempts to
prolong life, even in apparently hopeless
| cases"
DIR. EdsOn's Illustration.
DR.. Cyrus Edison declared that the Judge
| did not know what he was talking about
HE shows his utter ignorance of medi-
cine" said Dr. Edison, when he refers TO
| the agonies that patients endure in their
| last illness. Ii has been demonstrated that
morphine, judiciously applied, not only
prolongs life, but stops pain for the time
| being and relieves the sufferer. Ii is not
necessary to kill a person in order to put
| him out of agony.
Il remember the case of soldier who
was shot through The bowels on the field
| hog as he lay there. His entrails had been
exposed, and the hog devoured a portion
| of them. The mans brother was near by
and at the request of the dying man the
| brother shot him and put an end 10 his
misery.
Now, Judge Baldwin, 1 suppose, would
| think this the proper thing to do but
do not agree with him for minute. be-
Iieve that medical practice is far enough
| advanced to probably save such an ex-
| IRENE case by antiseptic treatment AT
any rate, The chances would be very good,
\ and we should have no right to neglect
| it."
To Save, Not Destroy.
Dr. C. H. Wynkoop said: at is a COM
mon principle in our profession that it is
| the mission Of doctors to save, not TO des-
troy. There are so many eccentricit!es in
| life and it is so impossible to Judge differ
ent cases by the same standard that ply
scans of high character would be very
slow TO accept the responsibility of putting
an end TO human life.
81 well remember the case of Charles
| O'Connor, who a number of years ago was
| supposed to be on his deathbed, and emf
nent physicians were waiting hourly for
him to breathe his last. They had made
up their minds that he was soon to go,
| and yet one day he took a sudden turn
and got we'll He lived four or five years
after that.
while the best physicians could be
| trusted to do the right thing, so far as
duty is concerned, 1t seems to me that 1t
would place dangerous power in the
hands of those who might possibly act in
collision with the INSCRIPTIONS who had
property interests at stake and were anX-
| lous to shorten life.
There is a good deal in the old proverb
| that while there IS life there is hope. l
have often known heroic treatment 10 bring
a person out of serious Illness when tho
last chance seemed to be gone Judge