The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1906-02-15
DEATH FOR INCURAbLES
Why Miss Anna Hall Believes
In Killing Human. Wrecks.
INDORSED By CHARLES E. NORTON

INDORSED By CHARLES E. NORTON
Cambridge Professor Writes That
| No Sound Objection to Her Theory
! Exists--How Miss Hall Would Put
| Boston Man.
| Miss Anna Hall of Cincinnati, who
attracted much attention some months
ago by advocating a painless death for
persons helpless in the grasp of extreme
age and those suffering from incurable
disease that must soon terminate life or
| frightful injuries that mean death after
period Of excruciating pain, has evolv-
ed a scheme for putting her ideas into
operation, says a Cincinnati dispatch.
Miss Hall states that her theories
have been much misunderstood, for she
Of potions and poisons to end misery,
but she does believe any one who de-
sires to have the agonizing pain Of fatal
illness or accident terminated by the
use of anaesthetics should have the
privilege of so electing and have his
wishes respected.
Miss Hall advocates having a board
of physicians Of not less than fifteen
years experience act as the intermedi-
aries between life and death. One Of
her beliefs, she says, is that person
should have the right to specify in
writing attested by two witnesses,
| that he wishes to be aided into eternity
when the end shall be approaching and
| the agony of death comes upon him.
The board should be subject to the call
| # this person and if satisfied the end Is
near hasten its progress by gently ap-
plying some anaesthetic to render the
| patient insensible to pain and cause
death
| Dr. Charles Eliot Norton of Cam
bridge, Mass, has written letter to
| Miss Hall indorsing her idea, in which
he says:
''Setting aside all doubtful cases, no
| right thinking man would hesitate to
| give a dose OF laudanum sufficient to
end suffering and life together to the
| victim of an accident from the tOrtur-
| ing effects of which recovery was i'm
| possible, however many hours of mis-
cry might be added to conscious life by
! stimulants or surgical operations. Nor
| should a reasonable man hesitate to
! hasten death in the case of a mortal
| disease-such, FOR example, as cancer
! when it has reached the stage Of in
cessant severe pain and when the pa
| tient desires to die. The prolongation
+! Of life in such a case by whatever
| means is mere criminal cruelty.
(! ''Or take another instance, that of an
old person whose mind has become a
! chaos Of wild imaginings productive Of
| constant distress not only to the suf-
| ferer, but to all who live with and at,
tend him. The plain duty in such
case is not to prolong but to shorten
! life'
Miss Hall was prompted to take up
her theory by the death of her mother,
Mrs. Murcey Hail. widow of DR.. John
| Hall, arctic explorer. Mrs. Hall suf-
fered for weeks from cancer Of the
| stomach before death ended her agony,
cate from her memory the thought Of
her parents suffering.
Il pleaded with the doctor to end the
/ death struggle in which she lay for
twelve hours" said Miss Hall, land
begged him to give her something to
end it all, but he said we would both go
to the penitentiary if he did. l offered
to sign a statement relieving him of all
] responsibility, but he said she did not
feel it.
"Why, the most frightful illustration
| of Dante's inferno could not be more
horrible than the terrible agony depict
ed on the face Of my dying mother.
When [ begged that it be ended was
told l was thousand years ahead of
the age. was forced to watch it with.
/! out moving hand, but shall labor that
others may BE spared such ordeals.
| Electrocution is legalized murder, but
| persons in the last stages Of cancer,
consumption, lockjaw or diabetes
| should have the chance of being assist
! ed into another world, and physicians
| should perform the act of assistance"
Attorney General Herbert Parker Of
| Boston recently said that sound philos-
ophy underlay the suggestion that all
| hopelessly insane or fatally injured
/ persons should be killed to hasten sur
cease Of pain or misery, but it was too
much to hope that it could ever be put
into practice, says a Boston dispatch.
Discussing the theory Of Miss Anna
Hall of Cincinnati, with which DR..
Charles Eliot Norton of Cambridge
agrees, Mr.. Parker said:
1.-THE whole spirit of the law is an
Gagonistic to such suggestion It would
be directly opposed to the popular
| spirit, begotten possibly Of the old say
ing, While there is life there is hope.'
Personally, however, [ am convinced