Should prisoners about to be executed be deprived of their corneas first? Do you think murderers should be deprived of the right to their organs? It is a slippery slope, deciding to harvest the eyes and any organs of someone who is to be executed.
To Snatch Living Eyes to Make Blind Boy See
Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 21. — Within a few minutes after Robert L. Clay takes his farewell look at earthly things and drops at the end of the hangman’s rope, John Cashin, blind for years, hopes to see.
Clay lies in the death cell, awaiting execution for the murder of his wife. His eyes are as good as man could wish for, although his lawyers and friends say they are the eyes of a madman. But the law has decreed that, mad or sane, they must close so far as their use by Clay is concerned.
On a street corner not far away John Cashin sells papers. Recently his customers have noticed a new light in his face. He has never seen the people who buy his papers and drop their pennies in a cup near him, but soon he hopes to see them. And not only the living beings around him, but the sunshine, the trees and flowers, the blind man hopes to see.
How? Through the eyes of the murderer, Robert L. Clay!
Until lately Cashin never expected to be able to see again. But one day a friend read to him of the sentencing of Clay. A sudden wave of thought swept over the blind man. He had heard of wonderful operations performed by surgeons, of bones and organs transplanted, and he saw with sightless eyes a wonderful operation. He hurried to the office of Dr. J.N. Ellis.
“Doctor,” the blind man said, “when they hang Clay, why couldn’t I get his eyes?”
Dr. Ellis was astonished. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean that when Clay dies his eyes be taken out and be put in place of mine.”
Dr. Ellis was finally persuaded to favor the strange request. He decided if the optic nerves of the blind man were still serviceable after so many years of disuse, a successful operation might be performed. A preliminary examination of the optic nerve is being made by Dr. Phinizy Calhoun, a noted oculist.
When Clay’s body falls through the trap door of the gallows, his eyes will be removed before the body is taken from the death chamber. They will be placed in a warm saline solution and rushed to a hospital, where Cashin will be waiting, ready for the operation.
The cornea, the “window of the eye,” the transparent cover through which light enters, will be cut from the good eyes of the dead man and put in place of the useless, opaque cornea of the news seller.
Clay has not given his permission yet, but it is believed that will not stand in the way of the operation.
Body Grafting Cases
Dr. Henry G. Lesser, 4 W. 93d street, New York city, in 1903, removed the useless cornea from the eyes of a man who had been blind for sixteen years and put in its place the cornea of a large rabbit. Operation successful.
In November, 1911, Dr. L.J. Hammond, Philadelphia, put the kidney of a man killed in an automobile accident in place of a diseased kidney in a live man. Successful.
In January, 1909, Dr. Wayne Babcock, Philadelphia, made a nose for Arthur Moyer out of a part of the flesh of his forehead.
On April 10, 1912, Dr. Harold Hayes, New York eye and ear infirmary, took part of Miss Mary Cooney’s ninth rib and splitting it, grafted it on in place of her diseased nose. Now the rib looks just as a nose should.
In December, 1908, Professor Erich Lexer, Konigsberg, Prussia, took a piece of bone from the amputated leg of a man and made a knee joint for an 18-ear-old girl.
Remove Cornea Before Hanging Advises Noted Specialist.
Dr. George F. Suker, a noted Chicago eye specialist, thinks there are good chances of success in the proposed eye operation at Atlanta.
“The cornea should be taken from the dead person’s eyes immediately [after] the breath has left the body,” he said.
“In the case of a criminal who is to be hanged, the cornea should be taken from his eyes before he is hanged. A criminal should be made to do something for society. This operation of removing the cornea can be performed without pain.
“The cornea transferred from a dead man’s eyes will only give effective sight, however for from a period of six months to two years.
“But I believe that a person who has been totally blind before the operation may always be able to see dimly if the grafting has been successful.
“I have made several successful experiments of this sort, using the cornea of a dead rabbit or a guinea pig.”
[Source: The Day Book (Chicago, Illinois newspaper). August 21, 1912.]
