New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-21
Legally Sane.

! One dav last week a patient from
Bellevue Hospital was brought before a
Justice of the Supreme Court on writ OF
habeas corpus. He had been placed IN the
psychopathic ward Professionally at the IN
stance Of his wife and his brother, VINO
desired 10 have him committed To hos
pital for the insane. To support their ap-
plication they had the certificates Of the
family physician and a specialist in men
tai diseases. besides the expert testimony
of the head of the psychopathic ward.
! The Judges task as a man Of law was
TO decide whether the patient could prop
erly be placed in the class that bears that
mysterious label Legally insane" The
fears and apprehensions Of his family
counted for little, and the opinions of
medical men were manifestly of no inn
portance. 1t is true that one who had had
abundant opportunity to observe the pa
tent in the last few days was quite salts
fed of his mental unsoundness, and de-
clared that it would not be safe to let
him 90. But on the other side was the
testimony of one Of the patients old
friends.
This witness was not a medical man,
but one of those plain citizens whose good
sense. as we learned from the judge who
presided at the latest Thaw trial, is so
much more valuable than the musty opin-
ions of doctors whose heads are stuffed
with psychiatric fancies and their mouths
full of hard words He had seen the pa
tent and found him in his right mind.
For instance, the man who was said to be
deranged had a clear memory Of some
thing that happened forty years ago, and
when he heard of some promising business
venture he wanted to get in on it." What
further proof was needed of his sound
ness of mind? "He struck me as ration
al" said the witness confidently, land |
believe he is, no matter what the doctors
say"
The soundness of this observation evil
IDENTIFY appealed to the court more than
the Judgment of all the doctors together.
The physician Of the psychopathic ward
talked knowingly of a Oppressive
condition and SO forth, but when pressed
he declined to bubble about the niceties
of illegal" insanity and simply declared
that if the man was let loose he would
probably be back again in twenty-fcur
hours. So the Judge decided that this was
clearly not case of what lawyers call
lunacy, and that accordingly the jargon
of the physicians was irrelevant.
When counsel for the patients family
asked timidly who was to be responsible
for him while he was at large the judge,
swelling with Indignation, broke forth
somewhat as follows: Responsible!
Pray, who is responsible for you? Let me
tell YOU this man is an American citizen
and he will be responsible for himself.
His liberty may prove an important factor
in his recovery"
Three days after this memorable decla-
ration the American citizen was back in
the psychopathic ward. The responsible
ity for this unfortunate relapse was UNI
doubtedly his own. The judge in grant
ing it to him as an American citizen had
made him promise to be good and had
sent him away with the best advice. "Con-
troll your nerves and actions" he had said
and the patient solemnly vowed he would.
How was the Judge to know that he could
not be trusted, unless, indeed, he had given
heed to the opinion Of the physicians?
OF late physicians have been much
ridiculed for their notion of what insanity
consists in. 1t is plain that none Of
them has a clear understanding of the
legal conception Of that condition, but are
they altogether TO blame for their ig-
norance? One thing is certain: that if a
useful reform is to be comprised lawyers
as we'll as physicians must be included
in it.