[Bioethics of Sigmund Freud´s death: euthanasia or appropriation?]. / Bioética de la muerte de Sigmund Freud: ¿Eutanasia o apropiación?

The death of Freud raises the ethical dilemma about euthanasia. It can be characterized as indirect active euthanasia according to the rule of double effect, or terminal sedation, or palliated death. The primacy of the principle of autonomy over non maleficence, conditioned the physician's attitude toward his patient Freud. The physician assisted death was and remains punishable in western medicine. Therefore, a fundamental tradition was infringed. In contrast, the present study attempts to characterize the final position of Freud himself to his death and called it appropriation of his finitude; he assumes his being-unto-death, that is, he now projects his being not as a being-at-his-end but as a being-unto-end, indicating thereby that he understood that the end always penetrated his whole existence.

Bioética de la muerte de Sigmund Freud: ¿Eutanasia o apropiación? / Bioethics of Sigmund Freud´s death: Euthanasia or appropriation?

The death of Freud raises the ethical dilemma about euthanasia. It can be characterized as indirect active euthanasia according to the rule of double effect, or terminal sedation, or palliated death. The primacy of the principle of autonomy over non maleficence, conditioned the physician’s attitude toward his patient Freud. The physician assisted death was and remains punishable in western medicine. Therefore, a fundamental tradition was infringed. In contrast, the present study attempts to characterize the final position of Freud himself to his death and called it appropriation of his finitude; he assumes his being-unto-death, that is, he now projects his being not as a being-at-his-end but as a being-unto-end, indicating thereby that he understood that the end always penetrated his whole existence.

Surreptitious surgery on Long Island Sound: The oral cancer surgeries of President Grover Cleveland.

Grover Cleveland rose from being the mayor of Buffalo to the governor of New York to the president of the United States. At the start of Cleveland's second term as president, the nation was involved in a severe financial crisis, the extent of which was not known by the general public. President Cleveland was to make a strong appeal to Congress in the coming months to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. He thought this would set the nation on the road to fiscal recovery. However, his vice president, Adlai Stevenson, strongly opposed repeal of the Sherman Act. Prior to scheduling his appearance before Congress, President Cleveland noticed a rough spot on his palate. A biopsy confirmed that it was cancer, and it was determined that surgery was needed. Cleveland and his advisors thought the nation would be thrown into a panic if the President's health did not remain a secret. A surgical team, which included a dentist, performed the surgery in secrecy while traveling aboard a yacht. A prosthetic obturator was fabricated by a New York prosthodontist to close the surgical defect. Cleveland recovered well, made a forceful speech before Congress, had the Sherman Act repealed and lived without a recurrence of his oral cancer for the rest of his life. The public remained unaware, for the most part, of the gravity of President Cleveland's health for decades.

Sigmund Freud's physicians and "the monster".

Freud received treatment from several physicians--including rhinologists, oro-facial surgeons or radiotherapists--for a cancer of the palate. Furthermore, as a consequence of his operation, Freud was required to wear a prosthesis that he probably named "the monster". This paper provides some details about the physicians who cured Freud and looks at the prosthesis he was forced to wear until his death.

Sigmund Freud: smoking habit, oral cancer and euthanasia.

BACKGROUND: Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychoanalysis had a well-known love of the cigar. The natural progression of this vice was the development of oral cancer for which he underwent a lengthy ordeal. An account is given in this article of Sigmund Freud's illness and care following the diagnosis of his oral cancer. The role of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide is also discussed. METHODS: A review of relevant literature on Sigmund Freud's illness, risk factors for oral cancer and euthanasia was undertaken. RESULTS: Sigmund Freud was a heavy smoker with a 20-cigar/day habit. In 1923, a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the palate was made, for which he underwent a lengthy ordeal which span a total of 16 years. During this period, he bluntly refused to quit smoking. Freud consulted many specialists (otolaryngologists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, prosthodontists and general surgeons), during the course of his ordeal with oral cancer. He underwent 34 surgical procedures before his eventual death in 1939 through euthanasia. CONCLUSION: Continued indulgence in smoking and procrastination on the part of Freud, as well as mediocrity, negligence and incompetence on the part of the first surgeon that operated on Freud, could partly be responsible for his lengthy ordeal.