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The Rise and Fall of Euthanasia Medica

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A History of Palliative Care, 1500-1970

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((PHME,volume 123))

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Abstract

This chapter shows, how the notion of “euthanasia medica” and the belief that it was the physician’s task to provide a “good” death resonated more and more in contemporary medical culture and reached a climax in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Numerous authors devoted chapters or entire books to the topic, detailing how torments of dying patients could be alleviated and their particular needs satisfied. This went along with widespread criticism of futile therapeutic zeal that risked leading to a “kako-” or “dysthanasia”, to a bad death rather than to a good one. The second part of the paper traces how this widespread appreciation of palliative medicine rapidly receded into the background from about 1850 onwards, due to a growing – and in retrospect largely unfounded − belief in the virtually unlimited possibilities of modern medicine.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Müller, De aegro agonizante (1675).

  2. 2.

    Prosper Alpinus, De praesagienda vita et morte aegrotantium libri septem, Frankfurt: Rhodius 1601.

  3. 3.

    Cf. Ackerknecht, Death (1968).

  4. 4.

    Bichat, Recherches (1800).

  5. 5.

    E.g., Karl Friedrich Burdach, Die Physiologie als Erfahrungswissenschaft, vol. 3, Leipzig: Voß 1830, pp. 557–746 (= book 10: Vom Tode); see also Carol, Médecins (2004), pp. 128–40.

  6. 6.

    See Gerlind Rüve, Scheintod. Zur kulturellen Bedeutung der Schwelle zwischen Leben und Tod um 1800, Bielefeld: Transcript 2008.

  7. 7.

    Vopiscus Fortunatus Plempius, De togatorum valetudine tuenda commentatio, Brussels: Typis Francisci Foppens 1670, p. 26.

  8. 8.

    McManners, Death (1981), pp. 251–3.

  9. 9.

    Munk, Euthanasia (1887), p. 20; numerous further references can be found in Steingießer, Sterben (1938), pp. 29–44.

  10. 10.

    Hornemann, Vom Zustande (1881), pp. 13–4; Munk, Euthanasia (1887), pp. 7–8.

  11. 11.

    Capellmann, Pastoral-Medicin (1895), p. 212.

  12. 12.

    Richter, Euthanasia (1841), pp. 363–4.

  13. 13.

    C[arl] A[nton] Ewald, Über Alter und Sterben, Vienna: Hölder 1913, p. 30.

  14. 14.

    Richter, Euthanasia (1841), pp. 363–4; Putz, De euthanasia (1843), p. 7; in very similar terms: Mendelsohn, Ueber die Euthanasie (1897), p. 3.

  15. 15.

    Hornemann, Vom Zustande (1881), p. 37, footnote.

  16. 16.

    Cf. Watson, Grundgesetze (1851), p. 76.

  17. 17.

    Munk, Euthanasia (1887), p. 21.

  18. 18.

    Claudia Huerkamp, Der Aufstieg der Ärzte. Der Aufstieg der Ärzte im 19. Jahrhundert. Vom gelehrten Stand zum professionellen Experten. Das Beispiel Preußens, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1985; Michael Stolberg, Heilkundige. Professionalisierung und Medikalisierung, in: Norbert Paul and Thomas Schlich (eds), Medizingeschichte. Aufgaben, Probleme, Perspektiven, Frankfurt: Campus 1998, pp. 69–85.

  19. 19.

    Klohss, Euthanasie (1835), p. XI.

  20. 20.

    Bullar, Opium (1856), p. 268.

  21. 21.

    Klohss, Euthanasie (1835), pp. XI–XII.

  22. 22.

    Vogel, Euthanasia (1834), p. 602.

  23. 23.

    Baltes, De euthanasia (1842), pp. 7–8.

  24. 24.

    E.g., Gmelin, Allgemeine Therapie (1830), pp. 342–3.

  25. 25.

    I. N. Thomann, Annales instituti medico-clinici Wirceburgensis, vol. 1, Würzburg: apud A. M. Köl 1799, list of patients from April to December 1798; Salzburg Museum, Salzburg, Hs 1896/1, surgical case histories written by students.

  26. 26.

    Clark, From margins (2007), p. 434; W. U. Eckart even claimed that Balfour Mount “coined the term ‘palliative’” (Wolfgang U. Eckart, Auch Sterben ist Leben. Hospiz- und Palliativmedizin damals und heute, in: Michael Anderheiden, Hubert J. Bardenheuer and Wolfgang U. Eckart (eds), Ambulante Palliativmedizin als Bedingung einer ars moriendi, Tübingen: Siebeck 2008, pp. 43–52, cit. p. 44).

  27. 27.

    Dictionnaire des sciences médicales, vol. 39, Paris: Panckoucke 1819, p. 123; Encyclopédie méthodique. Médecine, vol. NOY-PHT, Paris: Panckoucke 1824, pp. 283–4; the earliest use of the term “palliative medicine” in the English language is not known but the term was already used in the nineteenth century and occurs in book titles such as Lund’s “Palliative medicine and palliative treatment” of 1880.

  28. 28.

    Nicolaas Paradys, Oratio de euthanasia naturali et quid ad eam conciliandam medicina valeat, Leiden: H. Mostert 1794; in the same year, a Dutch edition of this oration appeared under the title “Rede over het natuurlijk wel-sterven en den invloed der geneeskunde op hetzelve” (Leiden: N.N. 1794); I will quote from the more easily accessible German translation (Paradys, Rede 1796).

  29. 29.

    Paradys, Rede (1796), p. 561.

  30. 30.

    Ibid., p. 567.

  31. 31.

    Heberden, Commentaries (1802), p. 272; a Latin edition made Heberden’s text accessible also to physicians whose knowledge of English was limited (Commentarii de morborum historia et curatione, Frankfurt: apud Varrentrapp et Wenner 1804); certainly in Germany, good Latin skills were still standard among physicians, however.

  32. 32.

    Ferriar, Treatment (1798).

  33. 33.

    Ibid., pp. 192f and p. 204.

  34. 34.

    William Munk, The life of Sir Henry Halford, London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1895, p. 265.

  35. 35.

    Halford, On the deaths (1842), pp. 159–89; idem, On the climacteric disease, in: Medical transactions of the College of Physicians in London 4 (1813), pp. 316–32.

  36. 36.

    Anonymus, Vom Verhalten (1806), cols 537–8 and 540.

  37. 37.

    Vgl Reil, Entwurf (1816), pp. 560–82 (on “Euthanasia, oder von den Hülfen erträglich zu sterben”); Puchelt, Umriss (1826), pp. 522–3 (on “Euthanasie. Verfahren des Arztes am Sterbebette”); Gmelin, Allgemeine Therapie (1830), esp. pp. 14–16; Choulant, Anleitung (1836), pp. 183–9.

  38. 38.

    Marx, Euthanasie (1827); Klohss, Euthanasie (1835); see also idem, Ueber Euthanasie oder über die vom Arzte ausgehenden Hülfen, den Tod zu erleichtern. Bruchstück einer größern Schrift, in: Journal der practischen Heilkunde 67 (1832), n. 1, pp. 67–108.

  39. 39.

    Cf. Hoffmann, Inhalt (1969); Falk, Geschichte (1983).

  40. 40.

    Kessler, De euthanasia medica (1828); Scheidhauer, De cura (1831); Beschuetz, De euthanasia medica (1832); Salzmann, De euthanasia medica (1835); Schriever, De euthanasia (1836); Stubendorff, De euthanasia medica (1836); Jahn, De euthanasia (1839); Schalle, De euthanasia (1839); Pfeiffer, De euthanasia medica (1839); Jäger, De euthanasia (1840); Goetz, De euthanasia (1841); Hellwag, De euthanasia (1841); Baltes, De euthanasia (1842); Hauffe, De euthanasia (1843); Putz, De euthanasia (1843); Brockerhoff, De euthanasia medica (1843); Heinzelmann, De euthanasia medica (1845); Ziemssen, De euthanasia medica (1845). Outside of Germany: Johann Schönbauer, De euthanasia, Budapest 1820; Jentink, De promovenda euthanasia (1840), F. É. F. Billon, Essai médical sur la dysthanasie, med. diss., Paris: Didot jeune 1820 (I have not been able to see the works by Schönbauer and Billon). The only dissertation of this kind, which I am aware of, that appeared after 1850 is Schaffrath, Euthanasie (1869) and it is telling that, according to author, it was his father, an experienced physician himself, who encouraged him to choose this topic and who provided him with accounts from his own practice.

  41. 41.

    Marx, Euthanasie (1827), p. 3.

  42. 42.

    Richter, Euthanasia (1841), p. 364.

  43. 43.

    Putz, De euthanasia (1843), p. 8.

  44. 44.

    Gmelin, Allgemeine Therapie (1830), pp. 15–6.

  45. 45.

    Robert Hooper, Lexicon medicum; or medical dictionary, London: Longmans et al. 1825, p. 857.

  46. 46.

    Hennig, De dysthanasia medica (1735); Jahn, De euthanasia (1839), p. 10; Baltes, De euthanasia (1842), p. 17.

  47. 47.

    Hennemann, Kakothanasie (1830).

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. 175.

  49. 49.

    Wolfart, Betragen am Sterbebette (1819), cit. pp. 60–1; Putz, De euthanasia (1843), p. 10 also criticized those who experimented on dying patients.

  50. 50.

    Alfred Meissner, Die Matratzengruft. Meissners Besuche bei Heine im Wortlaut, Baden-Baden: Keppler 1947, p. 64; see also Wilhelm Kühlmann. Abschied von der “Sterbekunst”. Heinrich Heines Briefe und Gedichte aus der “Matratzengruft”, in: Hans Helmut Jansen (ed.), Der Tod in Dichtung, Philosophie und Kunst, 2nd edn, Darmstadt: Steinkopff 1989, pp. 327–36.

  51. 51.

    Marx, Euthanasie (1827), p. 4.

  52. 52.

    Hauffe, De euthanasia (1843), p. 20.

  53. 53.

    Anonymus, Arzt (1838), p. 229.

  54. 54.

    Baltes, De euthanasia (1842), p. 7.

  55. 55.

    Putz, De euthanasia (1843), p. 7.

  56. 56.

    Mendelsohn, Euthanasie (1898), p. 245.

  57. 57.

    Munk, Euthanasia (1887); on Munk see also Hughes and Clark, “A thoughtful and experienced physician” (2004).

  58. 58.

    This complaint was repeated by Albert Plathner, Zur palliativen Behandlung des Uteruscarcinoms, med. diss., Jena: Frommann 1904.

  59. 59.

    A. Gessner, Palliative Behandlung des inoperablen Carcinoms, in: J. Veit (ed.), Handbuch der Gynäkologie, vol. 2, part 2, Wiesbaden: Bergmann 1899, pp. 461–87, p. 464 (cit.) and p. 466.

  60. 60.

    Bullar, Chloroform (1866), pp. 10–12.

  61. 61.

    Munk, Euthanasia (1887), pp. 3–4.

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    Michael Stolberg

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Stolberg, M. (2017). The Rise and Fall of Euthanasia Medica . In: A History of Palliative Care, 1500-1970. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 123. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54178-5_5

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