Main description:

This intriguing new account provides the answers to a question never before addressed or resolved about Napoleon's exile on St Helena - why did his medical management fall apart at the seams so disastrously? What was the cause of his death: i.e. what actually killed him and what else was he suffering from at the time has been the topic of much speculation. The highly significant role of Miss Fanny Mitchell in all of this is exposed for the first time. The only records of Napoleon's medical history that may be considered acceptable are those of the four doctors who actually looked after him. Although their value may have been challenged in the past on a number of counts, these individual records as they left the pen nevertheless remain the essential starting point of any account of Napoleon's exile. Unfortunately, they do not previously appear to have been as diligently studied as they might have been by those, including doctors (maybe especially doctors?), striving for the truth. What the author tells us here about the cause of Napoleon's death is his opinion, but it is an opinion based on the totality of the clinical picture as recorded by the doctors who cared for him.
It is not based on a cherry-picking expedition through that picture to fit preconceived ideas and provides us with a fascinating explanation of the real reasons for the Emperor's demise.