Have you heard about that time a doctor was blamed for a child’s death from diphtheria?
No, I’m not talking about Walter Hadwen…
That Time a Doctor Was Blamed for a Child’s Death from Diphtheria
This time, I’m talking about C.W. Young, an osteopath in St. Paul, Minneapolis, whose care led to the death of a 10-year-old with diphtheria.
A 10-year-old who was being treated by a doctor who recommended administering antitoxin, as she had diphtheria.
“The girl’s father protested against this stating that antitoxin was poisonous and that the custom of administering it ranked, with vaccination for folly and inefficiency.”
Dr. C. W. Young Charged With Crime
Unfortunately, that doctor was unable to administer the antitoxin, as the child’s father “discharged him,” and called in C. W. Young instead, who believed that osteopathy (which solely involved manipulation at the time) was “an efficient treatment for diphtheria” and that “antitoxin does not always cure diphtheria.”
“He said he had given Ethel a treatment to stimulate the kidney, heart and, liver and had separated the vertebrae to arouse the nerve action. He had also manipulated the throat.”
Dr. C. W. Young Charged With Crime
And a homeopath, O.H. Hall.
The child died the next day.
O.H. Hall signed the death certificate, although the health commissioner did not recognize it.
“I find that the parents of this child neglected to secure proper treatment for it. They turned away a competent physician, because he sought to administer a treatment which is invariably successful in dispersing diphtheria germs… A human life had been, in this day of enlightenment, and in the midst of civilization, sacrificed on the altar of superstition and ignorance.”
Dr. Justus Ohage
So what happened?
C. W. Young ended up paying a $25 fine (about $950 today) for violating the quarantine laws…
They were unable to successfully go after him for practicing medicine without a license or for manslaughter.
Still, diphtheria antitoxin did become more accepted in the following years, and especially once we got a diphtheria vaccine, we were able to get diphtheria under control.
One thing I'll never understand is how any kind of physician breaking their oath or the code covering their entire reason for being doctors in the first place, don't get immediately struck off for being responsible for a patients death when it's clear beyond all reasonable doubt that they are indeed responsible. Constant lying about vaccines should also carry the same punishment, imo. But then I do tend to think in black & white.