Bisbee daily review., 1912-09-15
GERMANS WILL
OPPOSE RIGHT
KILL PATIENTS
Putting Sufferer out of His
Misery Termed an
Abuse of Skill
by Schwab
RECALLS ERRORS
IN DIAGNOSIS
Duty to Relieve Pain When
Possible But not to
Act as EXecutiOner
for Sick

BERLIN, Sept. 1.-THE German
medical world are taking the liveii-
est interest in the right TO die con-
troyersy in America.
Dr. Gustav Schwalbe, the editor Of
the Deutsche Medizinisch Wochen-
schrift, a leading medical journal of
the fatherland. gave the following
special presentation of the German
view of legalized euthanasia.
"A doctor is neither officially, pro
fessionally. nor criminally entitled 10
kill a patient at the latter's wish.
The duty of medical science Is to
heal. or, where Il cannot achieve this
TO improve or ameliorate. Any other
function is a direct misuse of the
knowledge and skill Of the profes-
sion
Even an operation on a desperate
ly i'll patient. which the operator is
convinced will in all probability prove
fatal. is officially reprehensible. How
much more so is the deliberate kill
ing of a patient on his demand?
Doctor Not Executioner.
"A celebrated surgeon. discussing
this theme, once said: "A doctor
should not be an executioner.' One
may argue that many doctors DO,
as a matter OF fact deliberately
shorten the life of dying patient by
injecting morphine. This practice, II
will be pointed out, is so customary
that II has been given the technical
name of euthanasia. and is recon-
mended in the medical textbooks.
But this practice does not really
denote a killing in the generally ac-
L. 4 nv
administered which induce sleep. No
conscientious physician administers
morphine under these circumstances
unless he is absolutely convinced
that the patient is already in the
death agony.
Man Always FalabIe.
Who, however, can say with GER
tainty which patient is incurable
Even the most famous doctors can
tell OF patients who were given up
for lost and Notwithstanding this eth
or became well or lived a long time.
There are repeated cases on record
where eminent physicians have dag
nosed a disease as cancer OF the
stomach. only to have it discovered
later that all the tangible evidence
OF cnacerous growths had disappear
ed and complete health returned.
This alone surely shows that many
patients would have been killed by
doctors on the ground of incurable-
ness who would have been cured by
cleverer or luckier physicians.
In this connection il ought to be
nointed out that general authority 10
kin an incurable patient at his own
wish could be criminally exploited by
unscrupuloUs physicians.
Punishment Is Provided.
According TO the German Penal
Code. a doctor who kills a patient on
- Iatter's request is punishable. Th'
doctor would be judged like anybody
else, who violated paragraph PIC OF
the code, which says that If anybody
is induced by another person to take
his life on his emphatic and earnes
demand. the former shall be sen
fenced TO not less than three years
Imprisonment The newly proposed
Penal Code provides for a minimum
punishment of only six months.
From the general provision tina
one is permitted to take another
life only in self-defense the docto
is excepted in but one instance, whel
he may kill a child in the mother
body if thereby alone, in his con
scientious opinion, the life OF tn
mother can be saved.
The principle invoked in thes
circumstances is that where docto
is confronted with the vital emerger
cy, he may destroy a comparative
" worthless life for the sake OF pre-
serving the more valuable one. Tn
Roman Catholic faith even forbid
killing on such an occasion Moder
medical technique, moreover, ha
made Il much less necessary tina
formerly so resort 10 this practice.