Was the French emperor whispering his last words, "Head of Army! While he was poisoned by wary enemies? Recent days scientists say Napoleon Bonaparte died from an advanced case of gastric cancer and not arsenic poisoning as some had speculated.
Thus far we know that the cause of his death was from arsenic found in his hair concluding a death of poisoning. However, attempting to solve the puzzle a new study combining current medical knowledge, autopsy reports, Bonaparte's physician memoirs, eyewitness accounts, and family medical histories, found that gastrointestinal bleeding was the immediate cause of death.
Well one question is answered, but a new one has risen: What caused the gastric cancer?
By the original autopsy descriptions indicated that Bonaparte's stomach had two ulcerated lesions: a large one on the stomach and a smaller one that had pierced through the stomach wall and reached the liver. Based on autopsy reports, it is impossible to determine conclusively that the tumor that reportedly killed Napoleon's father was cancerous. And none of Napoleon's siblings were subject to autopsy, making his sister's stomach cancer diagnosis dubious.
I believe this is one of those controversies that will live on forever. (source: Notelay)
