THE RIGHT TO KILL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22155, 8 July 1935, Page 12

THE RIGHT TO KILL

DOCTORS AND PATIENTS WOMAN WHO ASKED TO DIE DOCTOR'S PATHETIC STORY [I'RO.M OUR OWN COHUKSrONIM'.NT] By Air Moil LONDON, June 15

The doctor's right to kill was referred to this week at a dinner in London of the Samaritan Free Hospital for Women, by a clergyman who is is also n doctor of medicine, fie is the Row Dr. A. \Y. Oxford, chairman of the hospital. Dr. Oxford said ho never forgets an experience of 30 years ago when ho visited a young woman in a. poor district who was suffering from cancer. "The woman in her agony appealed to me to kill her," he said. "1 had not the courage to do so, hut I did what was tlie next best thing. 1 gave her enough morphia for six nights, telling her I might not be able to call in (lie meantime, and carefully warning her not to take more than one dose at a time or she would surely die. Hut sho did not take an over-dose; sho remembered her children."

"A Difficult Question"

In an interview after tho dinner, Dr. Oxford gave somo of his views on tho question of ending lifo in incurable cases of disease. '"lt is a difficult question," he said, "I do not think it should be in tho power of any doctor to end lifo without some consultation. Such cases, I think, should bo investigated by a committee. In any case, the suggestion should never como from the doctor. It must bo at the instigation of the patient. "The woman I attended 30 years ago was about 35 years of ago. Sho was a mother with three children, and they played on the floor while sho tossed on tho bed in agony. 1 was with her when sho died a short timo later. It was a ghastly case. 1 am 80 years of age, and this is tho first time 1 have spoken about it to a soul. Tho recollection is still clearly with me." Dr. C. Killick Millard, medical ofticcr of Leicester, drafted last year a bill to make euthanasia (easy death) possible, and proposed that the bill should be introduced in tho House of Lords. It provided that euthanasia should be entirely voluntary. This plea formed tho subject of his presidential address to the Society of Medical Officers of Health.

Sir William Arbuthnot Lane said, in regard to this proposal: "Doctors not infrequently end their lives wlieil suffering from painful diseases." Views of Church Leaders

The subject of the "right to kill" has been much discussed recently, 'iho following are among tho opinions that have boon expressed:— Dr. Sclwyn, Dean of Winchester: "I think 110 Christian principle would bo violated if tho doctor thought lie would alleviate that person's pain, even though somo risk of life was involved." Bishop Wei Won: "I would not wholly forbid giving relief in certain circumstances. Painless death must bo allowed only in extreme cases of acute illness where more than 0110 doctor is agreed that the case is incurable." The Rev. A. Wellesley Orr, Vicar of St. Paul's, Kingston Hill: "So many people have gone out by their own hand when, if they had waited only a few days longer, there would have been a solution."

OXFORD SENSATION

SEQUEL TO A "RAG"

GIRL STUDENTS SENT DOWN

[FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT] By Air Mail LONDON, Juno 15 Miss Edith Shaweross, a third-year undergraduate at St. Hilda s, one of Oxford's women's colleges, has been sent down for the remainder of the term. She is to he allowed to take her examinations, hut access to the laboratories, where she can carry on her work in botany, has been denied her. Miss Shaweross is alleged to have supplied information to the undergraduate journal isis about a " rag " on the principal of the college, Miss Julia Mann. It is stated that Miss Mann was locked out of her room. This resulted in the College Eights Week dance being banned. At the beginning of this term Miss Shaweross was appointed woman editor of the lsis. She states that she neither wrote the paragraphs nor supplied information for them. " The paragraphs were not even published in the Jsis," she said. " Directly the proctors, who censor material, saw the paragraphs, they suggested it would be better not to print them, and submitted them to Miss Mann. The next tiling 1 knew was that I was told i had to leave." It is understood that the proctors approached Miss Mann with the suggestion that Miss Shaweross' punishment was rather severe. They proposed that the matter might bo reconsidered by the principal. Miss Mann, however, declined to reopen the question. After Miss Shaweross had been sent down, another student finely Katherine Cairns, daughter of Karl Cairns, stated that she?, and not Miss Shaweross, had supplied the information. She was similarly dealt with. Another incident which has arisen was the reporting to the authorities of an undergraduate for alleged interference in university matters. .He is a member of the staff of Isis. It is understood he intervened on behalf of .Miss j Shaweross, but bis action was so 1111- ! welcome at St. Hilda's that tlx; unusual ' step of reporting him under an old ! statute was taken.