Category: HISTORY

Audio-book Review
 By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Medical Mysteries Across History

By: Roy Benaroch MD

Narrated by: Roy Benaroch

Roy Benaroch MD (Author, general pediatrician practitioner at Emory University near Atlanta, Georgia.

From kings to jazz singers, Roy Benaroch reviews the diagnosis of ten historical figures with a medical opinion about their cause of death. Based on written evidence of their physical complaints, Benaroch offers a medical opinion about what today’s knowledge of medicine would have revealed about their lives and causes of death.

Benaroch presents his analysis with an element of mystery by not revealing the more familiar names of the dying person until later in each chapter.

The historical figures he chooses are famous, so their medical complaints are recorded in ancient or more modern publications. With written documentation of their complaints, Benaroch gives his opinion on modern-day diagnosis with cursory notes about their accomplishments. In his review of written reports of their medical complaints, he surmises a medical diagnosis and their probable cause of death.

This interesting and brief journey through history reflects on the medical complaints of Franklin Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Marie Curie, Alexander the Great, Billie Holiday, and King Henry VIII, among four others not noted here. Roosevelt’s polio, Keller’s deafness and blindness, Marie Curie’s aplastic anemia, Billie Holiday’s addiction, and the causes of death for Alexander the Great and King Henry are interesting examples of Beneroch’s diagnosis of their diseases, its symptoms, and how their medical complaints should or could be treated today.

Though polio had been around for thousands of years, it is not identified as a virus until 1909. It usually attacks children under age 5 but can be acquired from contaminated water at any age.

Roosevelt first shows symptom of paralysis when he reaches the age of 39 in 1921. His symptoms were fever, muscle weakness, facial numbness, bowel and bladder dysfunction. Benaroch notes Roosevelt first notes symptoms after diving into water off his family’s yacht. Dr. Robert Lovett, with consultation from William Keen (a former doctor for Presidents and America’s first brain surgeon) came up with the correct diagnosis.

A practical nurse named Anne Sulivan is hired by Keller’s family because of her experience with deaf children.

Helen Keller, aka “bronco kid” because of her unruly behavior as a child, contracted an illness at age of 19 months. She exhibited a high fever and lost consciousness. She survives her symptoms but is unable to hear or see after her return to consciousness. Benaroch explains the high fever likely induced damage to Keller’s optic nerve and auditory processing system without fatally impairing her remaining nervous system. Sullivan becomes Keller’s teacher and companion who helps Keller learn how to read, write, and speak despite her lost sight and hearing. Keller becomes the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She became a global advocate for the blind from 1924 to 1968 when she died.

Marie Curie is diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a disease that destroys bone marrow ability to create red blood cells.

Marie Curie and her husband were chemists working with radioactive material before its harmful effects were known. Her husband dies in a street accident in 1906 so is not known to have been affected by their joint experiments with radium and polonium. Later, Marie Curie works with x-ray machines during WWI. To compound her risk from exposure, she is known to have carried test tubes of radium around in her lab coat. Benaroch notes Curie dies at age 66 in 1934 which is remarkable considering her exposure to radon and other radioactive materials. Benaroch explains her symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, bruising, headache, and fever. However, years after her death, Curie’s body is not found to have excessive levels of radiation in her remains. The cause of death remains obscure according to another book that notes Curie as an exemplar of women in science.

Benaroch notes drugs are miracles of pain reduction. When one becomes addicted to drugs to relieve one’s pain, humans need treatment, not incarceration.

Benaroch tells the story of Billie Holiday’s tragic life and death. As a physician, he notes a condition of human abuse that ranges from a low of 1 to a high of 10. His opinion is that Holliday nears 8 if not 10 on that scale. She was raped twice as a teenager, married three times to husbands that abused and took advantage of her fame and income from singing. She was arrested several times for drug possession and with a drug conviction in 1947, her cabaret license is revoked. Though she made a lot of money as a blues singer, Benaroch explains she died from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 44 with $750 strapped to her leg. Benaroch notes addiction is a disease that continues to be misunderstood by the public and law enforcement. Benaroch explains America lost a national treasure when Billie Holiday died. He implies being black in America is hard but being addicted and black in America is a death sentence.

Benaroch suggests Alexander the Great drank to excess by choice, not because of addiction to alcohol.

Alexander the Great is characterized by Benaroch as a binge drinker, not an alcoholic. On Alexander’s last overindulgence, he falls unconscious, appears to quit breathing, and dies. The odd recording of his condition after death is that the body lays quiescent for several days without putrefaction. The embalmers refuse to treat his body because he appears to be something other than dead. Benaroch is unsure of whether this is a myth or accurate report of Alexander’s dead body. After considering what written record exists, Benaroch suggests Alexander probably died from blood poisoning from a former wound that never healed. Alexander appears alert up until his breathing and heartbeat stops. Benaroch suggests the slow advance of organ shutdown from blood poisoning allows Alexander to react to those who draw his attention. Benaroch infers the lack of putrefaction is likely a myth because blood poisoning could slow Alexander’s breathing and his stillness and inactivity reduce his heartbeat to the point that his body remained nourished enough to delay his actual death.

Benaroch notes jousting events in which the King of England’s head is hit with a lance. In a 1524 Henry is nearly killed in a match.

Benaroch’s diagnosis of King Henry is one of the more interesting diagnoses of his short book. Benaroch suggests Henry, in his early years as ruler of England, is an affable, intelligent, and effective monarch. However, Benaroch suggests Henry’s athletic life resulted in head injuries that changed his personality and the direction of his reign to one of erratic rule, unnecessary divorces, marriages, and behavior unbecoming a King. He is hit in the face by splinters from one jousing encounter that could have killed him. He continues to participate in jousting tournaments.

In 1533, Henry formally marries Anne Boleyn after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry marries four more times between 1533 and 1543. Benaroch suggests Henry’s behavior changes as he got older. In Beraroch’s opinion, he becomes more of an erratic tyrant than pragmatic ruler because of repeated head injuries. Jousting, like football, is a physical hard-hitting sport that has affected many of history’s athletes.

Doctor Benaroch’s fundamental point in writing this speculative history is to emphasize the importance of a patient’s explanation of their symptoms in coming to a conclusion about a diagnosis. Physical examination is important but listening to a patient’s physical and mental explanations of their condition are the best evidence for determining a correct diagnosis. This is the belief of other physician’s books that have been reviewed in this blog. There are many reasons why doctors may misdiagnose a patient’s condition. Some are too busy to take the time necessary to properly understand a patient’s comments. Doctors have various levels of experience and may not know how to interpret what a patient is saying. That does not change the point of Benaroch’s observations. It is essential for a good diagnosis to be based on the details of the patient’s history.