Did Mary Lincoln Suffer from Pernicious Anemia?

[Houmes]

(07-17-2016 04:17 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(07-17-2016 12:00 AM)Gencor Wrote:  I believe that there couldn't have been an autopsy, or if there was one, it disappeared before it was ever made public. The reason I believe this, is because if there was an autopsy, there would not have been all of these years of speculation about what she died of. We would have it confirmed and know for sure. Her cause of death, if anyone really knew back then, would be recorded in history as fact. We would not be speculating and guessing, even today, if there was a true record of the cause of death.

What I think may have happened is that Dresser's wording..."certain mental peculiarities were developed which finally culminated in a slight apoplexy, producing paralysis, of which she died" plus his use of the phrase "cerebral disease"... may have been misinterpreted as meaning a brain tumor. From there the story became embellished by adding an autopsy. So we start out with "cerebral disease," and over time the story of Mary's death is enlarged to include an autopsy which showed a brain tumor. This is false as no autopsy was performed.

As far as I know, there is not 100% agreement among doctors as to what she died of. (Blaine, please correct me if I am wrong.)

There is no consensus of what Mary Todd Lincoln died from. You could easily attribute it to myxedema coma (from hypothyroid disease), diabetic coma, stroke caused by high blood pressure with or without brain bleeding, syphilis, etc., etc., etc. The "mental peculiarities" could be explained by slurring of speech or talking gibberish, delusional behavior, and even varied stages of confusion. Interestingly, those suggesting she had tabes dorsalis (syphilis of the spinal cord) due to her gait degenerating with symptoms of back pain and stiff gait--labeling it locomotor ataxia which at that time was a synonym for syphilis--should be able to explain why her gait and weakness weren't from the partial paralysis and numbness she suffered after an 1879 fall from a ladder in France, causing injury to her back? Osteoarthritis in the back with or without trauma can cause the same symptoms. Plus, syphilis of the back usually starts earlier in life and has a characteristic gait with high-stepping and then slapping the ground with their feet due to loss of feeling.

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(07-17-2016 10:15 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I have a general question of the times in which she died: How many autopsies were performed period in the U.S. - especially on people who died under a doctor's care with symptoms of their ailments already well-noted? How many of the deceased were even taken out of their homes at the time of death? Weren't many of the bodies prepared for burial and then brought to the family's parlor for viewing? Weren't many taken straight from the parlor to the cemetery for burial?

Autopsies in the U.S. were performed haphazardly until 1915, when New York City created the position of medical examiner. A coroner system involving citizens without medical training back then (and today) was used to determine cause of death. This was believed to have been started in 1635, when early colonists brought the coroner system from England. Funeral homes in the U.S. came into vogue in the first part of the 20th century, when the deceased was transported and viewed in a separate facility. When I was a young lad, one my childhood friends had a father who was the local small-town funeral director. While he was building a new funeral home in the late 1930's, he prepared bodies and held viewings in the living room of his house. Years later when I stayed overnight once, my friend and I used a bedroom off the living room where I learned he prepared the bodies. That was the last time I slept there.