I’ve only got one fun fact for you today, but damn is it a good one.
King George V’s death was hastened by his doctor so that the death would run in the morning newspapers instead of the “less appropriate evening journals” (x). His doctor gave him an injection of morphine and cocaine while he was in a coma, clearly dying. On the one hand, “Lord Dawson’s [the doctor] notes assert that he had been told by Queen Mary and the Prince of Wales – the playboy son who was to become Edward VIII and, less than a year later, would abdicate and become the Duke of Windsor – that they did not want the King’s life needlessly prolonged if his illness was clearly fatal” (x). On the other hand, “There is no indication that the King himself had been consulted” (x). As I have never been in a similar situation, I can’t fully judge, but I do firmly believe there’s a difference between having a DNR in place and giving someone drugs maybe without their consent so they die quicker in order to be in the better paper. Also, I’m pretty sure the king’s death would have been news no matter what paper it was presented in.
Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
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