2008
Akhenaten

This patient ruled Egypt during the twilight of the house of the Thutmosids as a revolutionary and an iconoclast. He was the second son of Amenophis III and ascended the Horus Throne of the Living only because his older brother died young of unknown cause. It has been suggested that when he donned the white and red crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, the patient was ill-prepared to rule the most powerful empire on earth; because previously he had been excluded from court functions owing to some congenital ailment which made him hideous to behold.
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2007
President Lincoln

This year’s program examines the treatment U.S. president Abraham Lincoln received after being hit by an assassin’s bullet in 1865. We’ll attempt to determine if the world’s first center for trauma victims could have improved the outcome had Lincoln’s assassination occurred in 2007, and how extending his life may have altered history. What follows is the initial report of the first physician on the scene to treat Lincoln.
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2006
Booker T. Washington

This patient was one of the most admired Americans of his time. Born a slave, he was the successor of Frederick Douglass as leader and spokesman for black America in the aftermath of the Civil War. For over fifty years he relentlessly pursued the Puritan ethic of hard work, cleanliness and thrift. However, by his mid-fifties, he was wasted by a disease for which his physician claimed “racial characteristics” were, at least in part, responsible. Shortly before he died on November 15, 1915, at age 59, he was hospitalized in New York City. The following is a slightly abridged and annotated version of his hospital record:
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2005
Christopher Columbus

The patient’s illness began abruptly at age 41 with an attack of “the gout” during a violent storm on his return from the first of four voyages of discovery. Its nature is uncertain, but seems to have consisted of an intermittent, though relentlessly progressive, poly-articular arthritis affecting the legs more than the arms or hands. Acute attacks of the disorder most often occurred following exposure to cold and dampness while the patient was at sea. Malnutrition and chronic insomnia also may have contributed to the disorder, in that some of the most severe attacks coincided with periods in which he was eating little and sleeping not at all.
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2004
Heinrich Schlieman

Except for intermittent ear aches (apparently bilateral), the patient had enjoyed excellent health until age 54, when he noted a marked increase in his ear pain, progressive hearing loss and "burning headaches", sometimes agonizingly severe. His meager clinical record does not mention otorrhea, vertigo or tinnitus. The ear pain continued, although intermittently, for the remaining 13 years of the patient's life. (read more)

2002
Herod

A 69 year-old man presented with chronic low-grade fever, edema, abdominal pain, insatiable hunger pangs, shortness and foulness of breath, pruritus, inability to stand, convulsions, and, according to one source, "gangrene of his privy parts, engendering worms." His illness had begun some weeks to months earlier, and had caused steady deterioration of both his physical and mental condition. The patient became convinced that his illness was terminal and began exhibiting signs of depression. (read more)

2002
Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was born at Domremy in what is now Lorraine around 1412. At a young age she began to hear voices from God. When she was about 16, the voices exhorted her to bear aid to the dauphin, Charles of Ponthieu (later King Charles Vll), who was kept from the throne by the English and their Burgundian allies in the Hundred Years War. Joan won the aid of Robert de Baudricourt, captain of the dauphin's forces in Vaucouleurs, in obtaining an interview with the dauphin. Meeting the dauphin at Chinon castle, she conquered his skepticism as to her divine mission. (read more)

2001
Claudius

In the month of October, a 63-year old man developed postprandial abdominal pain and vomiting. He had been feeling well until passing out during a banquet in which he had consumed a large quantity of wine and a variety of dishes, of which one composed of mushrooms was a long-time favorite. On regaining consciousness a short time later, he complained of severe abdominal pain. He vomited and felt somewhat better.. (read more)

2000
Mozart

A 35 year old man presented with fever, rash and anasarca. His illness began suddenly in late November during the course of a local epidemic of a similar disease. Although he had a long history of varied medical complaints, the patient had been feeling well during the year prior to his present illness, which began acutely with high fever, headache, and diaphoresis. These symptoms were accompanied by swelling of the hands and feet, which over the course of a few days progressed to anasarca so severe that the patient had difficulty turning in bed. By the second week of illness, he complained of foul taste and generalized aching and was having recurrent episodes of projectile vomiting and diarrhea. He was so swollen and weak by this time, that he was able to sit up in bed only with assistance and yet his mental faculties remained intact.

1999
Pericles

A 65 year old man is seen because of fever, headache, sore throat and vomiting. The patient is a resident of Athens, Greece. An illness similar to the patient's has afflicted large numbers of his fellow residents of Athens. On the 9th day of illness, the patient develops profuse diarrhea which, unfortunately, is not examined for blood or inflammatory cells. Progressive dehydration and debilitation ensues. Cardiovascular collapse occurs on the 11th day of illness, and the patient dies. (read more)

1998
George A. Custer

General George A. Custer was a 36-year-old, highly-decorated military officer. In the face of convincing evidence of an overwhelmingly superior enemy force, he orchestrates a defeat so severe that it culminates in the annihilation of his personal command of over 200 men. It also results in his own death, as well as the deaths of two of his three brothers, a favorite nephew, and a brother-in-law. (read more)

1997
Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a 56-year-old man who presented with fever and chills associated with ascites, abdominal pain and a hacking cough with scant hemoptysis. Another dominant feature of his medical history was deafness, which had its onset at the age of 28. Hemoptysis and epistaxis became more frequent and Beethoven eventually developed anuria, became comatose, and died. (read more)

1996
Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great, a 32-year-old veteran, began to feel poorly following an evening of heavy alcohol intake. During the night he began to experience chills, sweats, and fever which was accompanied by rigor, anorexia, and fatigue. On the eighth day of his illness, he developed extremely high temperatures and lost his ability to speak. The next day Alexander the Great began to breathe shallowly, became comatose, and died. (read more)

1995
Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was a 40-year-old man who was brought to an emergency room for evaluation of lethargy and confusion and admitted to the hospital for observation. Results of a physical examination showed a mature white male who was calm and exhibited appropriate behavior. By the evening of the third hospital day, he worsened and his mental status became clouded. October 3, 1849, he was found semiconscious, sprawled across a broad plank laid between two barrels. He died four days later. (read more)