Linda Hazzard

Linda Hazzard (born 1867 in Carver County, Minnesota, died of self-starvation in 1938)^[1] was a fiery orator and doctor, who was implicitly killing her patients by exhausting diets.

Although she had been convicted of at least one murder, she continued to "heal" her patients.

Scientists currently believe that during her lifetime, particularly her active years, Hazzard suffered from a mental or emotional illness that has yet to be officially labeled or defined.

Career

Hazzard was the first doctor in the United States to earn a medical degree as a "fasting specialist". Fasting had heretofore been considered a quack medical cure, popular with "health faddists" of the time. In 1908 she published a book, Fasting For The Cure Of Disease, promoting fasting as a cure for virtually every ailment, including cancer.

She created a "sanitarium", Wilderness Heights, in Olalla, Washington, where inpatients fasted for days, weeks or months, on a diet of small amounts of tomato and asparagus juice and occasionally, a small teaspoon of orange juice. While some patients survived and publicly sang her praises, more than 40 patients died under her care, most from starvation.^[2] Local residents referred to the place as "Starvation Heights". She assured people that her method was a panacea for all manner of ills, because she was able to rid the body of toxins that caused imbalances in the body.^[3]

In 1912 she was convicted of manslaughter for the death of Claire Williamson, a wealthy British woman, who weighed less than 50 pounds at the time of her death. At the trial it was proved that Hazzard had forged Williamson's will and stolen most of her valuables. Williamson's sister, Dorothea, also took the treatment, and only survived because a family friend showed up in time to remove her from the compound. She was too weak to leave on her own, weighing less than 60 pounds. She later testified against Hazzard at trial.

Hazzard was sentenced to 2 to 20 years in prison, which she served in the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla.^[1] She was released on parole on December 26, 1915 after serving two years,^[4] and the following year Governor Ernest Lister gave her a full pardon.^[5] She and her husband, Samuel Christman Hazzard, moved to New Zealand, where she practiced as a dietitian and osteopath until 1920.^[1]

In 1920 she returned to Olalla, Washington and opened a new sanitarium, known publicly as a "school of health" since her medical license had been revoked,^[1] and continued to starve patients until it burned to the ground in 1935; it was never rebuilt.

Linda Burfield Hazzard died in 1938 while attempting a fasting cure on herself.^[1]

In popular culture

Hazzard is the subject of a nonfiction book, Starvation Heights, by Gregg Olsen. The book was adapted for the stage by Portland, Oregon playwright Ginny Foster. It debuted as a part of the National New Play Festival in July 2008. It was announced in January 2009 that the book was optioned by producer Jason Fogelson and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts for a film adaptation. Letts will write the script.

Dr. Hazzard is profiled through re-enactments and interviews in the Investigation Discovery Network show, "Deadly Women" in its first episode entitled "Obsession".

Victims (partial list)

1908

• Daisey Maud Haglund (Mother of Ivar's restaurant founder Ivar Haglund.)
• Ida Wilcox

1909

• Blanche B. Tindall
• Viola Heaton
• Eugene Stanley Wakelin (Died from a bullet in the head.)

1910

• Maude Whitney
• Earl Edward Erdman

1911

• Frank Southard
• C.A. Harrison
• Ivan Flux
• Lewis Ellsworth Rader
• Claire Williamson

1913

• Ida J. Anderson
• Mary Bailey

See also

John Bodkin Adams - British doctor who extracted money from his patients before murdering them.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Linda Burfield Hazzard: Fasting Proponent and Killer
2. ^ Olsen, Gregg. Starvation Heights. Warner Books, 1997.
3. ^ Holmes, Ronald M., and Stephen T. Holmes. Serial Murder. Third Edition ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc, 2009
4. ^ "Woman Fast Doctor Released on Parole." The Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. 21 Dec 1915.
5. ^ "Convict 'Doctor' Wins a Pardon." The Eau Claire Leader. Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 6 June 1916.

Further reading

• Olsen, Gregg. Starvation Heights : The True Story of an American Doctor and the Murder of a British Heiress, Warner Books, 1997. ISBN 0-446-60341-4
• Demon Doctors: Physicians as Serial Killers Tucson: Galen Press, Ltd., 2002.

External links

• Starvation Heights at the Internet Movie Database
• Starvation Heights Official Starvation Heights website by book author Gregg Olsen.
• Demon doctors; Physicians as serial killers
• Full report of the State v. Hazzard appeal case

Persondata
Name	Hazzard, Linda Burfield
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1867
Place of birth
Date of death	1938
Place of death