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Dr. Haiselden To Face State Board Inquiry

From: Dr. Haiselden And The Bollinger Baby
Creator: n/a
Date: November 24, 1915
Publication: The Chicago Daily Tribune
Source: Available at selected libraries


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Springfield, Ill., Nov. 23 -- Dr. C. St. Clair Drake, secretary of the state board of health, tonight wrote Coroner Peter Hoffman of Cook county for a transcript of the evidence in the inquest over the body of the Bollinger baby, who was allowed to die six days after birth because of supposed irremediable deformities.

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Dr. Drake stated that he would make a careful study of the facts in the case with a view to possible revocation of the license to practice in Illinois of Dr. H. J. Haiselden, the Chicago surgeon, who settled the fate of the infant.

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"I am not in a position to say what action will be taken," said Dr. Drake, "but I can at least promise that the case will be given careful consideration. I have received a large number of demands from both professional sources and from the laity demanding that the circumstances surrounding the baby's death be investigated."

Baby Born in New York Similar to Bollinger Case So Piteously Crippled That Parents Do Not Wish It to Live -- Mentally Normal.
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New York, Nov. 23 -- -Special- -- A case that recalls that of Baby Bollinger in Chicago has occurred in New York in the birth of a girl to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Roberts of 159 East Seventy-second street, piteously crippled, who her parents have declared they do not wish to live. The baby was born at 9 o'clock Tuesday night and it appears to be mentally normal. Below the waist it is paralyzed, has club feet, distorted knee joints, and is afflicted with a spinal ailment that would prove fatal if an operation were not performed in a short time.

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Both Mrs. Roberts and her husband were informed by Dr. Julius Goldsmith, attending physician, that if an operation was not quickly performed the child would die. Dr. Goldsmith, interviewed over the telephone, said:

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"The parents absolutely refused permission for the necessary operation. I could probably save the child's life, although, of course, it would always remain helplessly crippled. There is no such action, however, that I can take without the permission of the parents."

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