Article October 7, 1916 Issue

The report in the Daily News some time ago that a New York...

Judge Clifford P. Smith

Springfield (Mass.) Daily News

The report in the Daily News some time ago that a New York coroner had held a Christian Science practitioner liable for the death of a child whom he failed to cure, is another illustration of what an office-holder may do when actuated by professional class interest. The action of this coroner was put upon the theory that a medical doctor would have saved the child's life, and that any one but a member of this profession who tries to aid a sufferer from diphtheria is a criminal. By way of comment on this conclusion it can be said that the vital statistics published by the New York department of health show that no less than 1754 persons died from this same disease in that state in 1915. They also show that the discovery and use of the much heralded remedy for diphtheria called antitoxin has not materially reduced either the prevalence of this disease or the percentage of deaths from it. Indeed, such reduction as has occurred in recent years is just as reasonably credited to other causes and conditions as to the use of antitoxin.

Now nearly all of the 1754 persons to whom reference has just been made were children, and nearly all of them were attended by medical doctors. An unbiased person might therefore inquire whether any of these doctors were charged by a coroner with criminal responsibility in any of these cases. It could be said truthfully that Christian Science is a more reliable remedy than anything of a material nature, and that Christian Science might have saved the lives of many of these children. Of course no Christian Scientist would contend that either parents or doctors should be regarded as criminals for doing what they sincerely believed to be best for the children, but a just rule is capable of general application.

A recent case in England may serve by way of illustration. In that case a young recruit in the British army was inoculated, and died as the direct result of this supposed remedy. His relatives or friends demanded a coroner's inquest, and one was held, but the coroner disposed of the proceedings by saying, "The inoculation was perfectly right and it was performed in the usual way." It would be difficult to state the law as construed by these two coroners. Perhaps, however, it might read as follows: In the practice of medicine it is lawful for the patient to die, but in the practice of Christian Science it is only lawful for the patient to recover. Fortunately there would be a hint of fact in such a statute, for as Mrs. Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, has said (Science and Health, p. 311), "When humanity does understand this Science, it will become the law of Life to man,—even the higher law of Soul, which prevails over material sense through harmony and immortality."

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