ABSTRACT

The 1975 trial of Dr Alby Hartman for the killing of his father, in September the previous year at the small hospital at Ceres just over 100 kms from Cape Town, galvanised South African debates about medical euthanasia. After the trial, the obligations and duties of doctors faced with extreme suffering, profound disability, or inevitable death were widely discussed. The first study of medical mercy killings in South Africa, this article provides context, from the 1930s to the 1970s, for the Hartman trial and its controversial sentence. I consider why Dr Hartman admitted to ending his father's life, but also entered the plea of not guilty to murder. ‘Compassion was my motive’, he said. Several complexities of compassion and medical ethics in South Africa before 1976 are explored through attention to the role of Dr Guy A. Elliott. Through attention to South African medical politics under apartheid, I explain the contradictory positions on censuring Dr Hartman taken in 1976 by the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC). Finally, I point to how the sentence passed on Dr Hartman – which made him a criminal ‘non-law’- has had a complex legacy for the issue of doctor-assisted dying in South Africa.

摘要

1975 年，阿尔比·哈特曼 (Alby Hartman) 博士因杀害其父亲而受审，该案于去年 9 月在距离开普敦仅 100 多公里的谷神星 (Ceres) 的一家小医院进行，引发了南非关于医疗安乐死的辩论。审判结束后，医生在面临极度痛苦、严重残疾或不可避免的死亡时的义务和职责得到了广泛讨论。作为对南非医疗安乐死的首次研究，本文提供了从 1930 年代到 70 年代哈特曼审判及其有争议的判决的背景。我在想为什么哈特曼博士承认结束了他父亲的生命，但也对谋杀罪表示不认罪。“同情是我的动机”，他说。通过关注 Guy A. Elliott 博士的角色，探讨了 1976 年之前南非复杂的同情心和医学伦理。通过对种族隔离制度下南非医疗政治的关注，我解释了 1976 年南非医学和牙科委员会 (SAMDC) 对哈特曼博士的谴责所采取的矛盾立场。最后，我指出哈特曼医生的判决是如何对南非的医生安乐死问题产生复杂影响的——这使他成为一名“非法”罪犯。