Talk:Richard R. Peabody

A fact from Richard R. Peabody appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 16 April 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Richard Peabody was the first authority to proclaim that there was no cure for alcoholism, and his best-selling book, The Common Sense of Drinking, was a major influence on A.A. founder Bill W.?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2010/April.

Wikipedia

Cause of death

Right after I put that "dubious" tag on, I checked Ancestry.com and had no trouble finding the death certificate. He died in Vermont, 26 April 1936, and the cause of death is listed right there on the certificate as "chronic alcoholism." Now that of course does not mean he was drunk at the very end of his life, as people can die of the long-term effects of alcohol even after a period of sobriety, but at least the cause is not in doubt. I did get his second wife's name (Jane McKean) will add it if I can figure out how.Rose bartram (talk) 12:36, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As a doctor (family medicine, addiction medicine), it’s hard for me to draw immediate conclusions from Peabody’s death certificate. For starters, it’s unclear whether words today have the same meaning as they did in 1936. “Cardiac dilatation” (dilation) has many causes. Presently, heart failure due to ischemic heart disease (heart attack) is the most common etiology. Peabody was known to be a smoker, which would put him for risk for premature cardiovascular disease. Alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy is also a distinct possibility. “Acute cardiac dilatation” appears consistent with what we would described today as decompensated heart failure.

“Myocarditis” is simply inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium). Presently, there are various recognized causes of “chronic myocarditis,” however, alcohol isn’t one of them. This leads me to believe there was a different understanding and/or meaning of those words in 1936. I plan to explore this in medical textbooks from that time period.

Whether Peabody’s alcohol use disorder was active or remitted is difficult to determine from the available data. Those with long-term abstinence from alcohol can still struggle with alcohol-related complications (e.g., cirrhosis)

Finally, Peabody’s wife reported that he was ill with pneumonia at the time of this death. It’s puzzling that this doesn’t appear on his death certificate Doctorfrenz (talk) 02:43, 12 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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