Is Euthanasia Humane?

Text

A Doctor of Good Repntation Hastened His Patient's Death

The most famous mercy killing case in America's history involves Dr. Herman N. Sanders, a country doctor from New Hampshire. In the early 1950s Dr. Sanders had been treating a sixty-year-old woman in Hillsboro County Hospital who was dying of cancer. The woman had wasted away from 140 pounds to 80 pounds. There was no chance for recovery and she suffered extreme pain. Often she screamed out in anguish from her bed. She begged everyone who'came near her to help her die.
Toward the end there was little Dr. Sanders could do medically to ease his patient's suffering. He knew that her last,days would be torturously painful. So he decided to put an end to her misery.
Dr. Sanders gave his patient four lethal injections of air, which caused her to die painlessly in under ten minutes. He recorded his action on the hospital's record and said no more of the matter.

However, hospital administrators came across Dr. Sanders' entry when reviewing the records at a staff meeting and reported it to the state. A warrant for the doctor's arrest was issued and served by the sheriff. The warrant charged that Dr. Sanders "feloniously and willfully and of his own malice and aforethought did inject...air into the veins of Abbie Borroto and with said injection, feloniously and willfully and of his said malice aforethought killed and murdered his patient". The doctor pleaded not guilty and was released on $ 25, 000 bail .

Dr. Sanders had been a known and respected member of his community for many years. He was born in New Hampshire, where his father had been an official of the Public Service Corporation of New Haxripshire. In college, Dr. Sanders had been captain of the Dartmouth ski team as well as a member of the college symphony orchestra. He had recently returned from Europe where he had continued his study of medicine. Until the time of the mercy killing, his reputation was excellent. Dr. Sanders had been considered a trusted and honored physician.

In response to the charges hurled against him, Dr.. Sanders claimed that he had done no wrong. The woman had been within hours of her death. Moved by pity, he had merely hastened an extremely brutal end.
The Sunday after his arrest; Dr. Sanders and his family attended services at their church as usual. His minister and other clergymembers across the state openly expressed their support.

One minister in a nearby town preached a stirring sermon in Dr. Sanders' defense. He said that if the doctor was guilty, he was guilty too. For he had often prayed that some suffering parishioner might be "eased into the experience of death" . I.ater that day 605 of the 650 registered voters in his town presented Dr. Sanders with a written testimonial to his integrity and goodwill. They told him to use it wherever it might help him to prove his innocence.

However, their efforts did little good. The attorney-general
of New Hampshire firmly stated that "the case will be presented forcefully and in complete detail, regardless of the personalities involved, to the end that justice may be met". In response, hundreds of Dr. Sanders' fellow townspeople offered
to testify on his behalf. They signed petitions urging the courts to dismiss the case. Nevertheless, a grand jury indicted him for first-degree murder. "All I can say," stated Sanders, "is that I am not guilty of any legal or moral wrong and ultimately my position will be vindicated.

Not long afterward, Dr. Sanders was acquitted. But even after he was declared innocent, some were intent on punishing the doctor. His license to practise medicine was suspended. And while some clergymembers had supported Dr. Sanders, others loudly condemned him from their pulpits. Among them was the Reverend Billy Graham, who stated in Boston that "Dr. Sanders should be punished as an example" and that "anyone who voluntarily, knowingly or premeditatedly takes the life of another, even one minute prior to death, is a killer.

While Dr. Sanders was not permitted to practise medicine, he supported himself and his family by working as a farm hand. Finally the Medical Board of the State of New Hampshire reinstated his license. And Dr. Sanders has continued as a doctor in his hometown ever since.