According to Peter Gay (1988, pp. 650-651)
...on September 21, as Shur was sitting by Freud's beside, Freud
took his hand and said to him, "Schur, you remember our 'contract' not to
leave me in the lurch when the time had come. Now it is nothing but torture
and makes no sense." Schur indicated that he had not forgotten. Freud gave a
sigh of relief, kept his hand for a moment and said, "I thank you." Then,
after a slight hesitation, he added, "Talk it over with Anna, and if she
thinks it's right, then make an end of it."
According to Gay, Freud had not been receiving any sedation up to this time.
"On September 21, Schur injected Freud with three centigrams of
morphine--the normal dose for sedation was 2 centigrams--and Freud sank into
a peaceful sleep. Schur repeated the injection when he became restless, and
administered a final one the next day, September 22. Freud lapsed into a
coma from which he did not awake. He died at three in the morning,
September 23, 1939." (Gay, p. 651)
Kris Lewis
> ----------
> From: Paul Brandon[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Reply To: Paul Brandon
> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 1999 10:32 AM
> To: TIPS
> Subject: Re: Did Freud die of a morphine overdose?
>
> I believe I've read that Freud had asked Schur (I'm not sure how directly)
> to administer a possibly fatal dose of morphine if necessary to treat his
> pain.
> Can anyone confirm this?
>
> >Thus, he could not have developed a tolerance to morphine at the time
> Schur
> >injected him with two doses of 20 mg each within 12 hours of each other.
> As
> >Stephen and Tim suggested, Freud's weakened condition made it much more
> >likely that this would be lethal. In what he wrote, Schur seemed to be
> >saying that he knew this would kill Freud.
> >
> >So, thanks Stephen and Tim for your help.
> >
> >--
> >Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (602) 423-6213
>
> * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
> * Psychology Department 507-389-6217 *
> * "The University formerly known as Mankato State" *
> * http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *
>
>
