Article October 5, 1899 Issue

Would Mean Court-Martial

New York Herald

"If a medical officer of the army were nowadays to chloroform a man, as Dr. Nickerson said in the Herald this morning that he had done in the Civil War, he would be immediately court-martialled and adequately punished if found quilty."

This statement was made to me to-day by a high official of the Army Medical Department. Surgeon-General Sternberg is out of the city, but the officer with whom I talked may be regarded as an authority.

"There are many anæsthetics that can be used to alleviate pain." he continued. "In fact, the patient may by their use be kept in such a condition that he will not feel pain. Why, therefore, should his physician kill him? In the army of to-day every medical officer does his utmost to prolong life, and they will continue to do so or be courtmartialled and punished."

Examination of the rolls of the department shows that Dr. Nehemiah Nickerson was a surgeon in the Twenty-first Connecticut and served faithfully during the Civil War. The department officials say they have no record showing that he administered chloroform to patients.

New York Herald.

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