Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-26
American Public Opinion
Denounces mercy Killings

The killing by Richard Corbett, an
Englishman living in France, of his
mother. whose agonies from an incur
able disease had become unbearable to
her and to him, and his subsequent ac-
quittal by the French jury before whom
he was tried. has aroused much COM
ment as to the legal and moral side of
mercy killings"
There can be no doubt that in some
instances death is preferable to wretched
existence, but what parliament, what
congress, what legislature will assume
the responsibility Of enacting a law to
prescribe exactly how and under what
set of circumstances a human sufferer
shall be put to death in defiance of the
commandment Thou shalt not kilP?"
asks the Toledo Blade.
X 4 + +
s''Whatever individuals may think of
the moral quality of the. act, society
cannot safely permit people to take hu-
man life with no better motive than
their own good intentions. And this APP
plies to physicians as well as laymen,"
says the Worcester Evening Gazette,
being cured of innumerable maladies
which In the past were accepted by the
best medical knowledge as incurable."
The Texarkana Gazette declares that
medical ethics, as well as law, con-
dennis the practice, although there have
been many whispered stories of resort
by physicians to euthanasia, with the
consent or without the knowledge of
the surviving family, in cases of hope
less suffering" this paper considering
that "even If 1t we're regarded as justifi-
able when both the family and the vic
tim consent, q dangerous precedent
would be established, which could be
used as cloak by designing murderers
when the victims illness is not hope
less"
On the other hand, as the Charleston
Evening Post says, lit is easily arguable
that there are many such sufferers
whose every hour of life is torture to
them and who would rejoice to have
their sufferings terminated by death"
but in spite of this fact the Post be-
lieveS that society cannot entruSt to
any, even to the most learned phySi-
clans, the power to say when life shall
be left and when it shall be taken" and
contends that "the Corbett verdict was
an unfortunate one in its example"
Conceding that there is pathos in
this case to shake the heart of world
that is not wholly inSenSible to human
suffering" the Dallas Journal, however,
too well the human tendency to make a
precedent serve evil purposes will hold
that the verdict of this French tribunal
is one of the most dangerous that has
been rendered in modern times, al
though it is not the first of its kind in
that country The French jury would
better have served the world of men If
1t had imposed upon the mercy slayer
a mercy-tempered sentence" Similarly
the Haverhill Evening Gazette declares
that "the only danger to society in such
verdicts is the danger that the chance
for acQuittal for merciful murder win
make murder easier. We doubt that
this is a real danger" continues the
Gazette, which believes. Human be-
ings defend life too strenuously and too
vigilantly to be deceived frequently by
false pleas for mercy like this"
Touching another phase of the sub
ject, the Schenectady Gazette points
out that "some of the finest characters
have been developed in those who have
borne unflinching the pain of incurable
disease Some of the greatest lessons
In life have been learned by those who
have watched them and have come I'M
der their ennobling influence. While no
ore can wish long years of suffering
for himself or for those near and dear
TO him." the Gazette continues. "the
faith in the ultimate good in all things
that has carried millions through trials