According to Napoleon ‘killed by his doctors’, researchers from the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Department are claiming that overzealous medical treatment finished off the former emperor:
He was given regular doses of antimony potassium tartrate, or tartar emetic a poisonous colourless salt which was used to make him vomit. He was also given regular enemas.The researchers, led by forensic pathologist Steven Karch, say this would have caused a serious potassium deficiency, which can lead to a potentially fatal heart condition called Torsades de Pointes in which rapid heartbeats disrupt blood flow to the brain.
They say the final straw is likely to have been a 600 milligram dose of mercuric chloride, given as a purge to clear the intestines two days before his death.
This was five times the normal dose, and would have depleted his potassium levels still further, they say.
Of course, Napoleon was probably already on his way out from stomach cancer. (Hat tip to Mercola’s Health Blog.)