“It may be conceded that the Legislature has no constitutional
right to compel any person to submit to vaccination.” _Judge
Woodward, of New York Appellate Court, in Viemeister case in
1903._
“If the Commissioner of Health had the power to imprison an
individual for refusing to submit to vaccination, I see no
reason why he should not also imprison one for refusing to
swallow a dose. But the Legislature has conferred no such power
upon him, if, indeed, it has the power to do the like.” _Judge
Gaynor in Supreme Court, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1894, case of Smith
vs. Emery._ This decision was fully sustained by the Court of
Appeals.
KEYNOTE NO. 6: MEDICAL COMPULSION AND DOMINATION JUDICIALLY REBUKED AND
MEDICAL FREEDOM ASSERTED BY NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALS.
“I concur in Judge Chase’s construction of the statute. But I
would go farther. I deny the power of the Legislature to make
it a crime to treat disease by prayer.” _Decision of Chief
Justice Willard Bartlett, of New York Court of Appeals, in
“Christian Science” case of Willis Vernon Cole, 1917._
KEYNOTE NO. 7: GOVERNMENT HAS NO RIGHT TO FORCE A MEDICAL DISEASE OR
OPERATION UPON THE PEOPLE.
From these decisions it would seem to be obvious that it cannot
be made a crime to refuse a medical operation to which the
patient does not consent or approve, and which is dangerous
to health or life, and that this is the “sphere,” as stated
by the U. S. Supreme Court, “within which the individual may
assert the supremacy of his own will and rightfully dispute
the authority of any human government ... to interfere with
the exercise of that will.” And, furthermore, this “sphere,”
surely means the “Unalienable rights” of the people asserted
in the Declaration and the “reserved” rights and powers
retained by the people as expressed in Articles IX and X of the
Constitution. _C. M. H._