Beethoven: Murdered! (A Very Long Time Ago)

jharv | August 28, 2007 4:02 am
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OK, OK, it was apparently “inadvertent” poisoning. If it really happened. But a European pathologist who’s spent a long time playing with Ludwig’s hair thinks the composer’s doctor may have dosed him to his death with lead:

But Viennese forensic expert Christian Reiter claims to know more after months of painstaking work applying CSI-like methods to strands of Beethoven’s hair. He says his analysis, published last week in the Beethoven Journal, shows that in the final months of the composer’s life, lead concentrations in his body spiked every time he was treated by his doctor, Andreas Wawruch, for fluid inside the abdomen. Those lethal doses permeated Beethoven’s ailing liver, ultimately killing him, Reiter told The Associated Press.

Anyone want to give an over/under on the amount of time before this is “ripped from the headlines” for some prime time lawyering? If Law and Order hasn’t hit its shark jump moment yet, trying the descendants of Beethoven’s physician (or a cleverly disguised Beethoven stand-in, of course) for the murder of the maestro seems like a perfect opportunity to go all the way.

Pathologist: Doctor Killed Beethoven [AP via Yahoo]