Lincoln and Medicine

[RJNorton]

I am quoting Dr. Ed Steers:

"It (Marfan's) is an autosomally inherited genetic disease affecting the connective and skeletal tissue. Prevalence is about 4 -6 in 100,000. The affected person is usually tall and thin with long extremities. The aorta is usually weakened and involved in over 80% of the deaths. Several years back a west coast physician "diagnosed" Lincoln as having Marfan's based primarily on his physique and a photograph. Most, if not all, other physicians and Lincoln students feel such a diagnosis is without any medical or historical basis. While Lincoln's physique is somewhat consistent with Marfan's, so are a lot of NBA players if restricted to that characteristic alone. Lincoln had virtually no other symptoms or signs of Marfan's. He was quite muscular, and possessed considerable strength up to his death. He showed no signs of the disease of which there are many. It was picked up by the media only because it involved Lincoln and persists today for no other reason than that."

I believe Ed's doctorate is in molecular genetics.

There are definitely lots of opinions regarding Lincoln's health. For example, in The Physical Lincoln, Dr. John Sotos writes (regarding his own book), "This book makes the case that Abraham Lincoln did not have Marfan syndrome, but instead, had a much rarer genetic disorder called MEN2B (multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2b)."

Once I read someone's theory that Abraham (and possibly Tad, too) had Stickler syndrome.