# Was looking at a list of Presidential causes of death **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 25, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983 "2010-09-25T07:30:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/1 "2010-09-25T07:30:25Z")
By my reckoning. about a third would’ve survived with moidern medical care. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/2 "2010-09-25T11:27:45Z")
Wouldn’t that be true looking at any group of people from that time period? Heck, there are plenty of people who died of AIDS 20 years ago who would be surviving just fine on modern anti-AIDS drugs. So a big change in just 10-15 years. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/3 "2010-09-25T12:23:41Z")
Nah, I’m pretty sure most of 'em would be dead by now regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/4 "2010-09-25T14:04:45Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Nah, I’m pretty sure most of 'em would be dead by now regardless. Nonsense. If they ate healthy and exercised regularly, like nobody does, they’d live forever. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/5 "2010-09-25T16:07:44Z")
James Garfield’s death could probably have been prevented if medical techniques in use just a few years later in America had been available, and had it happened today some medical historians say he not only would have lived, he could have been out of the hospital in less than a week. The lesson here is that if you’re going to get shot you should put it off for as long as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/6 "2010-09-25T16:59:42Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > James Garfield’s death could probably have been prevented if medical techniques in use just a few years later in America had been available, and had it happened today some medical historians say he not only would have lived, he could have been out of the hospital in less than a week. The lesson here is that if you’re going to get shot you should put it off for as long as possible. Not sure Lincoln would have made it. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/7 "2010-09-25T17:06:50Z")
But at least we all now know: don’t eat cherries and wash them down with milk on a hot day. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/8 "2010-09-25T18:29:10Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > > [@pravnik](#): > > > > James Garfield’s death could probably have been prevented if medical techniques in use just a few years later in America had been available, and had it happened today some medical historians say he not only would have lived, he could have been out of the hospital in less than a week. The lesson here is that if you’re going to get shot you should put it off for as long as possible. > > Not sure Lincoln would have made it. The site agrees that the medical treatment is what killed Garfield, and if Lincoln had survived he would’ve been a “vegetable”. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-looking-at-a-list-of-presidential-causes-of-death/554983/9 "2010-09-26T17:14:16Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > The site agrees that the medical treatment is what killed Garfield, and if Lincoln had survived he would’ve been a “vegetable”. Well Mary Todd Lincoln was a basket case so…Basket + Vegetable = ??? There’s a good joke in there somewhere, but I can’t think of it now 🙂