The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-11-26
DOCTORS APPROVE
OF BABES DEATH
Cape Nj. DIS Say Chicago Con-
temporary Persued
Humane COnrse.

BOliinger to die in Chicago last week
when it was found the child was SO
malformed that only an operation of
a very delicate nature could possibly
prolong life.
Steps have been taken by the States
attorney in Cook County to have DR.
Heise!den indicted for faulty diagnosis
2nd the case is being placed before a
grand jury.
The Cape surgeons and physicians
declare that it was the only humane
treatment that could have been given
the child. The child was so deformed
that it would always have been de-
pendent upon mankind, had it lived,
they say; it never could have had any
Joy in life for itself and It never could
have given its parents any JOY for its
being alive.
Upon this they base Their assertion
that it was a perfectly iustifiable
thing to let the baby succumb to star
walton.
Some of the Cape physicians told of
other cases similar in character where
m the same course was followed and
they regarded this case as unextra-
ordinary.
ANY man is making a bid for pub
Lefty who opposes the course that was
followed in the case of this child"
DR.. W. c. Patton declared. ut was the
only proper thing to do; it was the
finest thing that that man could have
done.
''Thc chold would have been only
circus anomaly, had it lived; or it
would have been dependent upon its
! parents. 1t could never have enjoyed
! any Of the sensations of life such as
the rest Of US know it. What is the
use Of having such creatures live. 1t
had no brain, one eye WAS gone, one
ear gone and its organs were under
developed. 1t was not human being
and could not by any stretch of the
imagination be termed one. It's own
mother would not touch it, it was such
| an object of revulsiOn.
81 think that this is 4 case where the
matter simply has been exploited by
newspapers. Similar cases have been
called to my attention before, and we
have known them always as stubborn
| babies. They have been buried and no
ado has been made over them. They
ave occurred in the Cape"
DR.. Patton said he believed that the
6oiHugcr bays malformation was
caused by the typhoid fever with
which the mother had suffered before
The chiId's birth. He declared he be-
licvcd that prenatal impressions have
in effect upon the child when it is
born, despite the fact that scientists
declare now that the theory is wrong.
The doctor told the circumstances of
story taken from a medical journal
in England concerning a member of
one OF the old English royal families.
The story was told to DR.. Patton by
the late Capt Alt, when he was in the
Cape.
Several years ago, child was born
TO member of the royal house in
England. The baby had the hands, the
legs, arms and feet Of a frog. The
skin was a frogs, the eyes were large
and protFuding even as a frogs, the
face was shaped similar to frogs.
The monstrosity was kept a secret
from the world. 1t was kept in an
apartment alone and none ever was al
lowed to see it but two attendants
who waited upon the animal, took it
for daily exercise and clothed it. The
animal lived to be between Is and II
years old.
The belief was that the mother had
been frightened immcasurably by the
sight of frog when the child was at
a critical stage of its development.
DR.. r. P. Dalton declared that he
believed the question assumed two
angles There is a scientific viewpoint,
from which the action of the surgeon
in Chicago was absolutely justified, he
said, and there is a moral or spiritual
viewpoint, from which l similarly be-
ieve the action was justified.
"In such cases, which are by no
means uncommon, it simply is up to
the surgeon to satisfy his own con-
science that he has not committed
murder by taking that course. | be-
lieve not"
DIR. G. L. Schulz declared it was a
stupendous case of working up news
paper notoriety on the part of the
Chicago man.
81 don't feel the case should get the
notice it has and l don't see why life
of that kind should be prolonged. 1t
is case of monstrosity, and the child,
could it have been made to live, would
have been a burden upon others. Why
isn't it best to allow it to die in its