LAW DEFIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 117, 20 May 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

LAW DEFIED.

i SURGEON OPERATES. 3 STUDENTS WATCH DRAMA. r i t "A FAMILY OF IDIOTS." i ' The "Daily Express" understands that a famous London surgeon recently perj formed an operation in defiance of the i law. i It was done in one of the big teaching ! hospitals before an audicnce of utudents, [ who were addressed by the surgeon as I the patient, already under the anaesthetic, | was wheeled into the theatre. Doctor's Request. I "I am now about to commit an illegal | act," he said, "and if there is any i representative of the Press here I would like to draw his attention to it. This j woman had already four children when I I first saw her, and they are all mentally ] deficient; her husband has been more than j once in an asylum. "Her doctor sent her to see me six months ago when she was expecting another baby and asked if I would consider preventing the further disaotrous addition of a fifth idiot to her family._ I j refused, because I disapprove of sacrificing the life of an unborn child; but now that : that child has been born I am going to ; make sure that this mother is not put to such distress again. "Let Them Prosecute." | "She wants no more children, and she I has consented to be sterilised permanently. Well, the law forbids me, but I defy it. Let them prosecute me if' they like; I should welcome it because the more publicity focused on this urgent 'matter the better. ! "If this woman were in danger of her ! life through having more children steriliI sation would be quite legal; but to take ! such a step because she is producing | children whose life is a burden to her, the community, and themselves is quite confrary to law. i "As you all know, there is a Royal Commission now sitting on the question of the sterilisation of the mentally defective, but as it is partly composed of people who have made minds against sterilisation years ago we can expect nothing better from it-than a majority and a minority report." The operation then began without further departure from routine, and. the procedure being simple, was quickly j finished.