Baby Bollinger

Baby Bollinger

A baby born in 1915 in Chicago with severe internal and external malformations which was attributed to the mother’s typhoid fever which she had contracted during early pregnancy. The parents, who had three normal children, were advised by surgeon Dr. Harry Haiselden to withhold treatment; the child died 6 days later. The case became a lightning rod against euthanasia, given that Dr. Heisenden went on to hasten the demise of deformed babies with narcotics. While it might have been acceptable to the medical community at the time, Dr. Heisenden began lecturing on the advantages of mercy killings and eventually lost his credibility and membership in the Chicago Medical Society