New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-03
ATTACKS TRIAL EXPERTS.
DR.. Allan McLane Hamilton Says
Methods Dire Uyrong.

In the course Of lecture delivered last night at
the New York Academy of Medicine. No. II West
sd street, DR.. Allan McLane Hamilton attacked
the medical experts IN legal cases. saying that the
method Of examining Iunatics accused Of crime
was Anticipated. and condemned comment in the
newspapers IN advance of the verdict The lecture
was on The Development OF the Legal Regula-
tions Concerning the Insane with Suggestions for
Reform"
Dr. Hamilton said that there were two things
or prime Importance in the treatment of the in
sane-one the justification Of restraining their lib
ertY and the other the place OF their confinement.
IN FORMER years more attention paid to seeing
that the patient was safely confined than TO the
kind Of place in which he was confined There had
always been collisions between the medical fra
terhity and the law the question Of insanity.
insanity IN the mind Of doctors was n disease and
should be treated as such. but the law looked at
the 1acts of individual cases
The speaker said that in his opinion there were
very rev persons who were wrongfui:y confined in
insane asylums. The great question with the In
sane Is to determine their responsibility One of
me great troubles with a person accused of crime
VINO is thought to be insane is to get him
to give his counsel his confidence In making ex-
afninations of supposedly demented persons the
medical men depend largely upon rough notes
when are OFTEN unreliable. A better way would be
TO have stenOgTapher on hand who would take
everything down verbatim for future reference In
poison cases the method of having only one chemist
10 make the analysis. the speaker said was wrong
lie favored the establishment of q neutral board OF
medical examiners TO examine all persons suspected
of insanity.
In regard to the laws view Of insanity there had
been but little change in the last three hundred
years, said the doctor. At present when person
is suspected Of insanity he Is sent to Bellevue for
hve days observation. and If he does not develop
insanity in that short time he is dischsrg The
speaker commended that in many cases it wuold be
impossible to determine a case in five days
PaTanoiacS. the speaker said were a menace TO
the community, They undoubtedly irrespon-
sble for their acts On the question of marriage
the speaker said that parents often neglected their
duty in not informing intending contracting par
ties Of traces Of insanity congenital or other
wise. II care was exercised in this regard less
insanity would ensue in many cases The insane
person was generally ignorant Of the Importance
OF the marriage contract. DR.. Hamilton said that
there a line Of demarcation between beliefs
and delusions. person might have a false belief
without being insane, while at the same time a
false belief might be the basis for insane decisions
1t was the opinion Of the speaker that where one
got one false delusiou others were sure to follow
The speaker said that many evils grew out of the
present method Of taking expert testimony at trials
He condemned particularly the estimate which
these experts put upon their own testimony which
In many cases was out OF proportion to its value
The appointment Of a neutral board of experts
would do away with such abuses. Doctors had no
business TO decide whether n person was legally in
sane or not. 1t their business tc decide mere
ly whether patient was insane or not and leave
the legal end OF Il TO the courts.
Or. Hamilton thought that the dicturn of the law
that drunkenness was excuse for the commits
sion of crime hardship in some eases
some men when drunk he thought. ought not TO
vocated that all persons suspected OF being insane
months DC Fla ena GPseTSon for at least six
OF a trial ought To be suppressed In this
abroad