The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-01-16
THE DOCTOR pRoNoUNCEs A MAN DEAI

| In the early years of my practice I had a
 darned hard time making q living as you may | readily suppose l would. Not that l had no l practice. Gosh, I had quite n busy little prac- l tice, but Lord how the deadbcats did favor | me! When l had endured 1t for five years I | was pretty Respondent. l cnvied young fcl- | lows who brought home their wages regularly | every week. pay for all or practically all they | had done the week before. So 1 slipped away
 one day and-I didn't drown myself. but tried | another Form of suicide. took q civil service l examination for tho job Of prison physician. [ | got the job. | went to prison. served about | threo hours. ] met murderer who acting az the former prison physiclans right hand man--dispenang his medicines. etc, for lack of | a professional assistant. l learned that prls- on doctor one of my first duties would be the
 examination of electrocuted men 10 pronounce | them sufficiently dead. l abscondcd and re- turned to the mines
 rhIs job of pronouncng person dead ls no light task. believe mo. Especially when you've been called in n hurry or the circumstances arc
 such AS to make you anxious and tnsc. You
 may pretend you are quite calm and unruffled,
 as you get out your stcthoscope and listen for
 possible nuttcr or n faint respiratory sigh.
 But tell you it is mighty hard 10 be as sure
 as you imagine folks imagine doctor should be In such case.
 So I have all the sympathy in the world with tho young doctor--it is usually young
 doctor striving courageousy 10 disguise his | callow youth--who permits the circumstances to stampede him into "pronOunclng" the vlc- tim dead only to have squad of fremen. or maybe an undertaken, discover q bit later that the corpse is still breathing.
 Indeed the very fear of making some such mistake adds to the difficulties which beset any physician in such situation 1 confess that have deliberately postponed acknowledgement | of the victory in not few instances until l could be fairly certain old Man Death was not going to try any such scurvy trick on me. That is to say, l have fiddled around with the hypo-
 dermic syringe or something Tor several mo- mind that my patient was a corpse for keeps. Three school girls sent in some questions which prompted theso ghasty remarks. They asked if anybody is ever revived or brought
 back to life after the heart has stopped beat
 ing. But the girls did not specify how long the heart shall have ceased to beat in order to war
 rant IL conclusion that it has stopped beating.
 They also asked if Il person could possibly live
 after having been pronounced dead. Well, that depends on the professional pcrsDicacity of the individual who has the tcmerlty tO pronounce the person dead.
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Girl to old Woman \ ycnr ago physical examination showed
 iind "IrOnic ci,OIccystltis. marked visccr1piOsis
 aIlcrgy of gasiro intestinal tract, cndocrlnc
 pifuItrOtI, yrO- gOiiada- -trOpc underweigbt Cor
 respondent capitaixcs all these dreadful nnmes'
 but we don't think they deserve h.) | am
 business woman aged 32 years. ! am now con: | rrODtcd with the gucstiO1 Of marriage. 1 would
 hate Co marry and be n nii'stonc ro"nd
 mans neck. tMIss r. T.. E.)
 Answ.r-- Nonsense. daughter. Some quack is WflnklHH you Wlih hil tHht hOeub-pofhh fofktt it and get your man. A husband and a few
 children will take your mind off your self Iten0rsc
 Married. 27, one son |. Two yeavs ago fool.
 lsbIy lad aD abortion. due t0 clrcnii,stnntrs | imODsy matter) [ thought warranted lt. .,
 n0w har [ cannot haze any more chlhiren'- tMru N. H)
 Anawer-That is A familiar eonAoqnanre.-. | knows precisely what damage has resulted can hdyiss you,