In an earlier post, I wrote about prisoners outliving their "life" sentences. In this post, I'll address the matter of patients outliving their "death sentences."Arthur Mishkin was diagnosed with juvenile (insulin-dependent) diabetes at the age of 19. That was in 1942, when insulin treatment was still in its infancy. No child with diabetes had ever survived to adulthood, so even with treatment, doctors didn't give him much of a chance of ever marrying or having children. They certainly didn't expect him to live to see any grandchildren. Diagnosis of juvenile diabetes was still considered a Death Sentence.
Well, Mr. Mishkin is now 89 years old, still diabetic, and now finally succumbing to the ravages of age. He has children and grandchildren. He's definitely outlived his "Death Sentence."
One more reason to take anything a doctor says with a pound of salt.
ReplyDeleteWe keep forgetting that we are all different. Even in medicine there is no real "one size fits all."
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace.