Tuesday, October 27, 2009

News at Eleven: When [Dr. James] Clark finally diagnosed consumption,

he put [John] Keats on a starvation diet of just an anchovy and a piece of bread a day to cut the flow of blood to his stomach. "You cannot think how dreadful this is for me," [Joseph] Severn wrote to a friend. "The Doctor on the one hand tells me I shall kill him to give him more than he allows--and Keats raves till I am in a complete tremble for him."

Clark, who went on to be employed by Queen Victoria, also recommended heavy bleeding.

from The Guardian: Doctor's mistakes to blame for Keats's agonising end, says new biography

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