Linda Burfield Hazzard

Linda Hazzard (born 1867 in Carver County, Minnesota, died of self-starvation in 1938) [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7955 Linda Burfield Hazzard: Fasting Proponent and Killer ] ] was a doctor convicted of murdering one of her patients.

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 in-patients fasted for days, weeks or months, on a diet of small amounts of tomato and asparagus soup and little else. While some patients survived and publicly sang her praises, more than 40 patients died under her care, most from starvation [Olsen, Gregg. "Starvation Heights". Warner Books, 1997.] . Local residents knew the place as "Starvation Heights".

In 1912 she was convicted of manslaughter for the death of Claire Williamson, a wealthy British woman of 33 years, 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 stole most of her valuables. Claire'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 . She was released on parole on December 26, 1915 after serving two years ["Woman Fast Doctor Released on Parole." "The Oakland Tribune". Oakland, California. 21 Dec 1915.] , and the following year Governor Ernest Lister gave her a full pardon ["Convict 'Doctor' Wins a Pardon." "The Eau Claire Leader". Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 6 June 1916.] . She and her husband, Samuel Christman Hazzard, moved to New Zealand, where she practiced as a dietitian and osteopath until 1920 .

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to Olalla, Washington and opened a new sanitarium, known publicly as a "school of health" since her medical license had been revoked . Though it burned to the ground in 1935 and was never rebuilt, its legend is still powerful in Olalla, and visitors to the grounds as recently as a decade ago have still found remnants of her presence in trash and debris in the underbrush. Her book continues to influence a small fasting movement to this day, with proponents claiming it as a true cure-all.

Linda Burfield Hazzard died in 1938 while attempting a fasting cure on herself .

Hazzard is the subject 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.

Victims (partial list)

1908
* Daisey Maud Haglund (Mother of Ivar's restaurant founder Ivar Haglund.)
* Ida Wilcox1909
* Blanche B. Tindall
* Viola Heaton
* Eugene Stanley Wakelin (Died from a bullet in the head.)1910
* Maude Whitney
* Earl Edward Erdman1911
* Frank Southard
* C.A. Harrison
* Ivan Flux
* Lewis Ellsworth Rader
* Claire Williamson1913
* Ida J. Anderson
* Mary Bailey

ee also

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

References

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

* [http://www.starvationheights.com/ Starvation Heights] Official Starvation Heights website by book author Gregg Olsen.
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/doctors/11.html Demon doctors; Physicians as serial killers]
* [http://www.mrsc.org/mc/courts/WashReports/075WashReport/075WashReport0005.htm Full report of the State v. Hazzard appeal case]