Re: GG 20th death Celebration

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@sff.net>]

>> GG's habits reminds me of a story: When Sylvia Plath's
>> father, Otto Plath (a gifted linguist and entomologist)
>>refused to be treated when diagnosed with diabetes--later
>>died of complications from his gangrene, the doctor who
>>had to amputate his leg said under his breath, "How can a
>>man so brilliant be so stupid?"

> What Gould's habits do you have in mind? I thought he was > paranoiacally careful not to fall ill?

For all the concerns he had about his health, he also didn't
eat properly and didn't get enough rest (hmmm, sounds a lot
like me).

On top of that, he was seeing several doctors, apparently
without informing any of them that he was going to other
doctors or that he was taking medications that might have
bad interactions with what he was already taking. And the
doctors themselves might have probed these things more
deeply! I don't think they're without blame here.

Also, it seems that GG reported some symptoms to the doctors
but tried to treat other (often potentially more serious)
conditions on his own. Or even ignore them except to write
about them in his journals.

I'm wondering if this is common with hypochondriacs. For
all that they are concerned with their symptoms, they are
often afraid to go to the doctor for stuff they must know
is serious. My father's coworker was a hypochondriac, and
all the office (and the doctors) knew about every condition
he had or thought he had. Yet he died from prostate cancer
- he never got tested for that, though he was of the target
age for screening.

Anne