Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1912-09-05
iU||THANAslA IS
WIDELY DISCUSSED
DOCTORS DIVIDED ON QUESTION
OF HAVING THE STATE
LEGALIZE 1T.
MANY OPPOSED TO IT.
Ministers Say No Earthly Power Has
Right to Take Human Life
Northwest Expresses Varied
Opinions.

| New York, Sept. 2.-The letter die.
tated by Mrs. Sarah Harris and print.
ed in which the woman, who is in
her early thirties and hopeless para,
lytic, begs that the state legalize eu.
thanasia so that the sufferings of I'M.
fortunates such as she may be ended,
has already attracted wide interest,
and, as might be expected, has given
| rise to the expression of strongly op.
posed views.
! Mrs Harris, in her bed at the Au
dubon sanatOrium, where DR.. Henry
| W.'Lloyd, the superintendent, says she
| may lie for, ten or twenty years to
| come, was mistaken in her belief that
as she puts it, "A way should be
found to be as merciful to us as to
the animal that is mortally wounded
or helpless from disease
DR.. Simon Baruch and other promi
nent physicians, who said they did
not care to be quoted as holding such
views, agreed with Mrs. Harris. Mrs
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop says it il
cowardly to ask for death, and DR.. /
c. Jones, superintendent of the home
for cancer incurables, says that re
quests of the kind made by Mrs. Har
ris are very rare.
Mrs. Lathrop, who is the daughter
of Nathaniel Hawthorne and who has
given up her life to the care Of can
Ger incurables, when told of Mrs.
Harris plea, said IT must absolute
ly discountenance any such sugges
tons that the state interfere and end
the lives of such unfortunates. II
seems to me that a religious woman
would not say such things They are
so contrary to religious faith. l wish
you could see the Christian resigna.
ton and patience, the sweet bravery
of some of our inmates here, who
suffer so terribly and know they can
never recover. Then you would real.
ize the enormity of the act which this
woman suggests. I think it is coward.
ly."
Minneapolis, Sept. 2.-Physicians in
Minneapolis, and various sections of
the state, as well as North Dakota,
when asked for an opinion concern
ing the validity of such an act as
asked by Mrs. Harris also it's normal
effect on the medical profession, gave
| widely different opinions Many were
strictly against the taking of human
life under any circumstances, while
Others thought it advisable and
even advocated it where the. suffer
ing was unbearable and the malady in
durable.
DR.. G.. G. Ethel, president of the
Eitel hospital, said:
This is very serious question and
one which has often been discussed by
physicians. 1 think it would be al
right where the patient was an in
durable and asked for relief in that
way. However, it is a great question
and no one or two physicians should
be left to decide whether the patient
was incurable, but rather a consulta-
ton of six or more should be had in
every case"
Minister Opposed.
pin Avenue Methodist church, said:
II do. not believe in the theory.
She has no more right to ask her ply.
sician to take her life than she has
to commit the act herself. No physi-
clan can say when case is incurable,
as many hundreds get well after they
have been given up by the physician.
No, it is too tremendous a peril to
be enacted in law"
Moorhead.-Dr. E. W. Humphrey.
one of the Northwest's prominent sur
geons, said that as it was the intent
OF nature that persons should live as
long as possible, whether in happiness
or suffering, and that it would be as
much as murder to cause the death
Of a patient believed to be incurable.
The Rev. R. H. Cotton of the Epis-
cOpal church here, said that he hardly
knew what to say. 1T might be de-
sirable in one or two cases. he said,
"but life is a fatal thing, especially
human life, and I believe that we have
no right under any circumstances to
( take it away"
Fargo, N. D. Both DR.. C. A. Car
pointer and DR.. D. X. Malarian Of this.
city expressed themselves as being op-
posed to physician taking the life
Of human being by any method un-
der any circumstances. DR.. Malarian
said that it was impossible for any
physician to say when a case was in