Pathologist: Doctor killed Beethoven

by Victoria Revay | August 29, 2007 at 08:33 am
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Beethoven Statue, L.A

Beethoven Statue, L.A

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Karajan - Beethoven Symphony No_ 9 : Part 1

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Karajan - Beethoven Symphony No_ 9 : Part 1

Beethoven might have been accidentally been poisoned by his own physician. An autopsy of his hair and bone fragments revealed that he had elevated levels of lead in his body, over the normal levels.  In those times, lead was used to treat unknown ailements, which is why his doctor might have been giving him the doses in the firstplace. Beethoven was 57 years old.

Only through an autopsy after the composer's death in the Austrian capital on March 26, 1827, were doctors able to establish that Beethoven suffered from cirrhosis of the liver as well as edemas of the abdomen.

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