Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1899 — USED DEATH AS A REMEDY. [ARTICLE]

USED DEATH AS A REMEDY.

Physician Declares He Has Killed Suffering Patients. Dr. Nehemiah Nickerson of Meridian, Conn., has created a sensation by declaring that he had put an end to the suffering of patients who were ill beyond hope of recovery by administering chloroform, thereby causing a peaceful and more speedy death. “There is no reason,” Dr. Nickerson said, “why the sufferer should not be given chloroform if he such action and be assisted to pass out. I have administered chloroform under such conditions, and have always thought that I was doing a humane act. Why 'a person should be obliged to suffer by the aid of medical skill is more than I can see. According to my mind a person has a perfect right to say what shall be done with his life.. He may live or die. Suicide is justifiable in many cases, provided the suicide has no obligations. I do not believe a doctor should hasten a patient’s death without full consent of all near relatives and the patient himself.” This declaration was brought out by the address of Judge Simeon E. Baldwin of New Haven before the American Social Science Association, of which he is president, at Saratoga, N. Y., on Sept. 4, in which he said that in the case of a patient suffering from a fatal malady he believed the prolongation of the sufferer’s life was a misapplication of the healing art, especially when the patient would prefer a speedy death through an anaesthetic. ___ France Reaped Fees. The profits of the Government telegraph during, the Dreyfus trial are reported the heaviest in the history of France. Tables just compiled show total receipts of $90,000, which represents payment for nearly 9,000,000 words of telegraph matter. The heaviest day’s business is reported on Saturday, when telegrams to the number of over 3,000 were filed and sent. Pau) Roehncbt, New York jeweler, was shot dead while attempting to evict Kate