The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1906-01-17
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY II, 1906
LETHAL THEORYAND PRACTICE

LETHAL THEORYAND PRACTICE
TIE question of cutting short hope.
less suffering in its last stage is one
that easily arouses public attention by
any fresh incident that seems appli-
able DIR. Osler's name became gen.
orally known through misiuterpretat-
ion of one Of his remarks ABOUT the
activiti of men hey ond the age of 60.
He did not say that old men should
be chloroformed but the discussion
that sprang up proceeded humorousiy
along that line. DR.. Olser who is
himself young no longer spent last
year professionally at an English
university. Not liking it there he is
about to res1 me a chair in an Ameri
can college and is liable to say that
he never felt more fit. The disroverer
of chloroform in chemistry was an eX-
perimenter past che prime of life Men
over 60 sustained the assault which
was scarcely serious with advantage
to their side of the case. But differ
ent phases of euthanasia continue to
be written about and talked about
and the matter must contain an Issue
vet to be determined. A young woman
in PHILADELPHIA in the worst spasms OF
by drophobia was piled with ether fer
the last eight hours of her life
with the consent of her nearest relat-
i've and guardian and the approval of
several we'll known physicians. One of
the latter evidently hesitates to com
NIT himself to the lethal practice for
he says the ether prolonged the lie of
the sufferer.
If Gu hanasia is TO obtain recog-
nized place in medical methods it
mus be under far more searching and
comprehensive safe guards than any
that now exist 1t cannot be left to the
judgement of a realtive and the
physician called in. Every step will
have to be taken deliberately under de-
finiee legal provisions. II an invalid
believed himself to be so diseased as
to be merely waiting for death should
ask for it as a means of relief if lis
family should consent to it if his
physicians should sanction it and if
general medical board officially con-
stituted should authorize it after ex-
animation in accordance with laws franz
ed protectively the proposed lethal
plan would at least be on better foot
ing. Yet grains of doubt moral and
medical would remlin and the fight
against euthanasia would be much
stronger than the suggestions now adj
vanced in its behalf. The spar Of life
cannot be precisely gagged. Many a
sckly child has grown up to p erform
highly valuable services to mankind.
Men apparently endowed with the
most remarkable vitality go down
in their strength. Two of the most re-
markable statesmen of the civil war
period ON opposite sides Thadaeus
Stevens and Alexander "a Stevens
lacked phys. cal strength to walk about
unsupported. HANNA judgemut ;. is
fallible when it undertakes to draw a
line in vitality. for life is something
at cannot even define.
In the savage state the old and help.
less have often been sacl ifced because
shey could not stand the nomadi;
strain. But rivilizatiou has passed
that stage. IL Is able to take care of
the sick, the help less and the congen-
italy defective and will pursue tins
course until clearly convinced of its
moral right co put an end to life on
what are urged as Philosophical or ben
evolent grounds. AS far as the cu,rent
practice of medicine 10 concerned il
Is largely Occupied with the prolongat
i'm Of the painful stages of disease
and that may not be any more justifi