apart from "the old law", a 17th-century tragicomedy written by thomas middleton, william rowley, and philip massinger, one of the early books to deal with euthanasia in a fictional context is anthony trollope's 1882 dystopian novel, "the fixed period". ricarda huch's novel "the deruga case" (1917) is about a physician who is acquitted after performing euthanasia on his dying ex-wife.