Linda Hazzard | |
|---|---|
 Hazzard, 1912 | |
| Born | Lynda Laura Burfield (1867-12-18)December 18, 1867 Carver, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | June 24, 1938(1938-06-24) (aged 70) |
| Cause of death | Starvation due tofasting |
| Other names | Linda Burfield Hazzard "Starvation Doctor" |
| Occupations | Confidence trickster,alternative medicine practitioner |
| Known for | Health fraud through promotion of fasting treatments |
| Criminal status | Imprisonment (1913–1915) Parole (1915) Pardon (1916) |
| Spouse | Samuel Chrisman Hazzard |
| Parent(s) | Montgomery and Susanna Neil (Wakefield) Burfield |
| Motive | Financial gain |
| Criminal charge | Manslaughter,forgery |
| Penalty | 2 to 20 years in prison |
| Imprisoned at | Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, Washington |
Linda Laura Hazzard (néeBurfield; December 18, 1867 – June 24, 1938), nicknamed the "Starvation Doctor",[1] was an Americanquack,swindler, and convictedserial killer noted for her promotion offasting,pummeling and hours-longenemas as treatments. In 1911, Hazzard was found guilty ofmanslaughter in the state ofWashington and was sentenced to 2 to 20 years of hard labor for killing at least 15 people for financial gain at asanitarium she operated on theKitsap Peninsula in the early 20th century. She was released on parole after only serving two years and later, on the condition that she move to New Zealand, received a full pardon from GovernorErnest Lister in 1916. Hazzard died at 70 after subjecting herself to her treatment methods.
Linda Laura Hazzard was bornLynda Laura Burfield inCarver, Minnesota, oldest of 7 children of Susanna Neil (née Wakefield) and Montgomery Burfield. Hazzard had no medical degree, but was licensed to practice medicine in the state ofWashington through a loophole thatgrandfathered in some practitioners ofalternative medicine without degrees. According to her bookThe Science of Fasting, she studied underEdward Hooker Dewey, MD, a well-known proponent offasting.
Hazzard developed a fasting method that she claimed was apanacea for all manner of illnesses, ridding the body oftoxins that caused imbalances in the body.[2] Over the course of her career, she wrote three books about what she claimed to be the science behind fasting and how it could cure diseases. The first wasFasting for the Cure of Disease (1908),[3] followed byDiet in Disease and Systemic Cleansing (1917). A fifth revised and amplified edition ofFasting for the Cure of Disease was published in 1927 under the titleScientific Fasting: The Ancient and Modern Key to Health.[4]
Hazzard established a "sanitarium" called Wilderness Heights, located inOlalla, Washington, where inpatients fasted for days, weeks, or months on a diet consisting of small amounts of tomato, asparagus juice, and occasionally orange juice. While some patients survived and publicly endorsed Hazzard's methods, dozens died under her care. Hazzard claimed that the deceased had succumbed to undisclosed or hitherto undiagnosed illnesses such ascancer orcirrhosis. Her opponents claimed that they all died ofstarvation;[5] local residents in Olalla referred to the sanitarium as "Starvation Heights".
In 1912, Hazzard was convicted ofmanslaughter for the death of Claire Williamson, a wealthy British woman, who weighed less than fifty pounds at the time of her death.[6] At the trial, it was proven that Hazzard hadforged Williamson's will and stolen most of her valuables. Williamson's sister, Dorothea, also took the treatment, and, it is alleged, only survived because a family friend showed up in time to remove her from Wilderness Heights. It is suggested that one of the sisters managed to smuggle atelegram to alert their governess, who lived in Australia; however, by the time of arrival, Claire had already died. Dorothea was too weak to leave on her own, weighing less than sixty pounds. She later testified against Hazzard at trial.
Hazzard was sentenced to 2 to 20 years in prison, which she served in theWashington State Penitentiary inWalla Walla.[7] She was released onparole on December 26, 1915, after serving two years,[8] and the following yearGovernorErnest Lister gave her a fullpardon.[9] Hazzard and her husband, Samuel Chrisman Hazzard (1869–1946), moved to New Zealand, where she practiced as adietitian andosteopath until 1920.[7]
In 1917, aWhanganui newspaper reported that Hazzard held a practicing certificate from the Washington state medical board.[10] Because she used the title "Doctor", she was charged inAuckland under the Medical Practitioners Act forpracticing medicine while not registered to do so, found guilty and fined£5 plus costs[11] (approximately NZ$600[12] plus costs or US$462.13[13] plus costs in 2014). Three years later she returned to Olalla, opened a new sanitarium (known publicly as a "school of health" since her medical license had been revoked),[7] and continued to supervise fasts until the sanitarium burned to the ground in 1935; it was never rebuilt.[14]
Hazzard died of starvation in 1938 while attempting a fasting cure.[7]
On March 28, 1910, Earl Edward Erdman, acivil engineer with the City ofSeattle, died of starvation in theSeattle General Hospital. Erdman had kept a diary which detailed Hazzard's treatment during the preceding weeks that provides an insight into how she treated her patients.[15] The following are excerpts from his diary:
February 1 – Saw Dr. Hazzard and began treatment this date. No breakfast. Mashed soup dinner. Mashed soup supper.
February 5 through 7 – One orange breakfast. Mashed soup dinner. Mashed soup supper.
February 8 – One orange breakfast. Mashed soup dinner. Mashed soup supper.
February 9 through 11 – One orange breakfast. Strained soup dinner. Strained soup supper.
February 12 – One orange breakfast. One orange dinner. One orange supper.
February 13 – Two orange breakfast. No dinner. No supper.
February 14 – One cup of strained tomato broth at 6 p.m.
February 15 – One cup hot strained tomato soup night and morning.
February 16 – One cup hot strained tomato soup a.m. and p.m. Slept better last night. Head quite dizzy. Eyes yellow streaked and red.
February 17 – Ate three oranges today.
February 19 – Called on Dr. (Dawson) today at his home. Slept well Saturday night.
February 20 – Ate strained juice of two small oranges at 10 a.m. Dizzy all day. Ate strained juice of two small oranges at 5 p.m.
February 21 – Ate one cup settled and strained tomato broth. Backache today just below ribs.
February 22 – Ate juice of two small oranges at 10 a.m. Backache today in right side just below ribs.
February 23 – Slept but little last night. Ate two small oranges at 9 a.m. Went after milk and felt very bad. Ate two small oranges 6 p.m.
February 24 – Slept better Wednesday night. Kind of frontal headache in a.m. Ate two small oranges 10 a.m. Ate one and a half cups hot tomato soup at 6 p.m. Heart hit up to ninety-five minute and sweat considerable.
February 25 – Slept pretty well Thursday night. Ate one and a half cups tomato broth 11 a.m. Ate one and a half cups tomato broth 6 p.m. Pain in right below ribs.
February 26 – Did not sleep so very well Friday night. Pain in right side just below ribs in back. Pain quit in night. Ate 1 and a half cups tomato broth at 10:45 a.m. Ate two and a half pump small oranges at 4:30 p.m. Felt better afternoon than for the last week. ...
This diet continued more or less unchanged until his hospitalization on March 28. He died that afternoon, just before his coworker was to transfuse blood.
1908
1909
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1912
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