“SUDDEN DEATH.
“The City Coroner held an inquiry on Saturday at the Stanley Arms relative to the death of Alice M. A——, aged twenty-eight, who died suddenly. On Friday she seemed in good health and spirits. From an internal examination of the body Dr. Miller was of opinion that she died of syncope or failure of the heart’s action. Verdict: ‘Death from natural causes; to wit, heart-disease.’”—Eastern Daily Press, Norwich, January 20, 1896.
Amongst other sudden deaths more recently reported are:—R. F——, of RECENT CASES OF SUDDEN DEATH.Torquay, described as “a man of exceptional physique, who had every appearance of possessing a very robust constitution.”—F. P. C—— “looked more than usually robust of late, had never been known to complain of his head, and appeared in the best of health and spirits.”—W. W——“had always appeared to enjoy good health, with the exception of a cough.”—O. P——, “beyond failing appetite, had given no indication of ill health.”—W. M——“was in his usual health, and went to bed all right.”—Mrs. T. B—— “was in the best of health, and was attending to her household duties.”—L. T——, “a powerfully-built fisherman, and most unlikely to come to such a sudden termination of life.”—M. J. M——, at East Garston. “A post-mortem was made by Dr. K. and his assistant, but they were unable to find any evidence as to the cause of death. Verdict: ‘Natural causes.’”—The sudden death, while playing the pianoforte, of a girl, aged twelve, “who had never had a day’s illness in her life.”—S. G——“was quite well, and in excellent spirits.”—T. B. B—— was “a robust man, and had not been ailing.”—G. R—— was “in excellent health and spirits, and attended to his duties as usual.”—A little girl, M. B——, who appeared to be in her usual health, died very suddenly while sleeping in a cot by the side of her parents. Verdict at the inquest: “Death from natural causes.”—A. S——, aged twenty-three, a strong young fellow, who went to rest before eleven o’clock. About one o’clock the following morning he was seized with pain, became unconscious, from which he succumbed.—R. J. C——, labourer, “a fine, robust-looking man,” suddenly expired before medical aid could be procured. Verdict at inquest: “Died suddenly from natural causes.”—Mrs. R——, “who was quite well when her daughter left the room, was found dead on her return a few minutes later.”—T. H——, blacksmith, “went to bed in his usual health and spirits” in company with a comrade, who on attempting to wake him in the morning found life extinct.
The above are given simply as typical examples of a class of cases of which thousands might be cited, but it has not been thought necessary to weary the reader with the details of further instances.
While it is not suggested that the foregoing are cases of premature burial, yet it is absolutely certain that they belong to the category of persons of whom a considerable percentage are liable to such misadventures unless precautions very different from those in vogue are taken to prevent them. All medical practitioners allow that a man may be half drowned or half dead, and that cases of suspended animation occur where the most experienced physician is unable to detect the faintest indication of breathing or cardiac movement. They are, however, quite sceptical as to absolute suspensions of life where all the ordinary methods to test its existence fail; and, owing to this scepticism, and the readiness to give certificates of death in cases of alleged sudden death, have unwittingly promoted premature burials, as will appear by the facts quoted in these pages.
HASTY BURIAL CONDEMNED.
Mr. M. Cooper, in the “Uncertainty of the Signs of Death,” p. 49, cites from a letter by one William Fabri, a surgeon, the opinion that we “... have just reason to condemn the too precipitate interment of persons overpowered by lethargies, apoplexies, or suffocation of the matrix; for I know there have been some, supposed to be irretrievably cut off by these disorders, who, resuming strength and returning to life, have raised the boards of their own coffins, because in such disorders the soul only retires, as it were, to her most secret and concealed residence, in order to make the body afterwards sensible that she had not entirely forsaken it.” These wise counsels were written two hundred and sixty-eight years ago, since which time thousands of our fellow-creatures have, it is feared, been the victims of premature interment, and yet the danger then pointed out remains. The Undertakers’ and Funeral Directors’ Journal, the conductors of which are laudably anxious to keep their profession from the odium of burying people alive, referring to sudden deaths and this danger, says, in its issue of January 24, 1894, under the head of “A Burning Question”:—“Sufferers from such chronic ailments as are reputed to end suddenly are in constant danger from the present state of the law, if they are in the hands of people interested in their death.” And continues: “Even where a medical certificate is obtained, such general laxity has entered into proceedings that but little protection is thereby afforded to the public. While the medical man is bound to state what he believes to be the cause of death, he is under no obligation to make sure either that the patient is dead at all, or that, if dead, he died from a particular disease for which he was attending him.”
VIVISECTION.
The Medical Times and Gazette, 1859, vol. xviii., p. 256, has the following:—