LONDON, June 23 (AP)—Agatha Christie's 16‐year‐old detective story “The Pale Horse” saved the life of a 19‐month‐old girl dying of a condition that baffled London doctors, the British Journal of Hospital Medicine reported today.
The Arab baby, flown for treatment from Qatar, on the Persian Gulf, was semiconscious when admitted to Hammersmith Hospital. Despite intensive care, her blood pressure rose, her breathing became increasingly difficult and she appeared on the brink of death. The doctors could not diagnose the illness.
As they were making their morning rounds of the wards, Marsha Maitland, a nurse, suggested that the infant might have been poisoned by a compound of thallium, a bluish‐white metal that has poisonous salts. Nurse Maitland said she was reading “The Pale Horse” and the baby's symptoms were remarkably similar to those of a thallium case in the book.
Thallium is rarely found in Britain, and the hospital lacked the necessary testing equipment. Scotland Yard found a laboratory with the equipment and tests confirmed thallium poisoning. The baby recovered after getting the right treatment.
jestergirl98 on February 23rd, 2020 at 05:52 UTC »
For those who don't know, Agatha Christie worked as a medicine woman at one point in her life, so this gave her a lot of medical knowledge, including that of different poisons, it's also why she used so many poisons in her stories, including the more obscure ones such as thallium or taxine.
Salt-Pile on February 23rd, 2020 at 03:34 UTC »
That's so cool. I've always assumed Agatha Christie likely inspired a few murders, so it's nice to know she inspired at least one life saving too.
HardcorePhonography on February 23rd, 2020 at 03:29 UTC »
Conan Doyle - according to the original Annotated Sherlock Holmes - diagnosed a baby with lead poisoning on a street corner by looking at it's face and then looking at the chew marks on the stroller, which was painted with lead-based paint.