VALUE OF EUGENICS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 462, 2 July 1937, Page 6

VALUE OF EUGENICS

MEDICAL VIEWPOINT If Men Were Controlled Like Stock Press Association —Copyrlcht Wellington, July 1. “■lf the human population in this country were controlled and regulated as you and the farmers control and regulate stock, a great deal of our social disabilities would naturally cease to exist, and a large part of the provision made by the country for social services would be unnecessary. The problem of the aged, the unemployable, crippled and particularly the mentally deficient would automatically disappear,” said Dr. T. D. M. Stout, opening the fourteenth annual conference of the New Zealand Veterinary Association at Wellington yesterday. Dr Stout said that in the treatment of disease there was a distinct difference between the work of the veterinary surgeon and that of the medical practitioner. In the former case the curative aspect was much less important, because there was not the necessity to preserve the life of the diseased and disabled animal, as there was in the case of mankind. “Perhaps in many ways we envy your being able to practice eugenics with complete freedom,” the speaker continued. “If an animal is deformed, disabled or seriously diseased, there is no question of preserving its life. If a human being is in the same position, every effort is made by mankind, and much of the work of our profession is needed for the constant, unremitting attention necessary to care for the sick and disabled in our midst.

“We hear that in one country in Europe, an experiment is being made on a small scale in regard to the sterilisation of the unfit, and that euthanasia is being urged in other countries for those suffering from incurable and painful disease. The training of our profession, and, I hope, our sympathy with our fellow men which naturally develops from close association with them in their troubles, anxieties and sickness, tends to make us eager to help those who are sick and maimed. Our knowledge of the difficulties of deciding on the question of the future usefulness of the individual makes us very conservative in the development of any measures adopted to make mankind eugenically a fitter species. “It is only in certain cases of hopeless mental disorder, especially when associated with some sub-normal development, that we might consider certain measures desirable. With regard to euthanasia in cases of incurable and painful disease, perhaps voluntary action by the individual

might be justified, but, as professonal men, we are always hoping for a cure of disease, as long as life remains.’