[Dixielandjazz] New Jelly Roll Book

[fred spencer]

In a message on Sat., 16 Nov 2002 12:18:56, Mike Meddings wrote -
In discussions with the most senior of my Morton research colleagues...I
offer the following:
The Chicago Tribune reporters, Reich and Gaines have told us that
Morton's death certificate listed "cardiac decomposition"...This is
ridiculous; whoever heard of a decomposed heart? The correct medical
terminology should be, as correctly inserted on his death certificate,
"cardiac decompensation"...the reporters...are not the first to fall
into the trap and be caught out with this.

Mike,
The conclusion you reach about Reich and Gaines's misuse of "Cardiac
Decomposition" on Morton's death certificate, instead of "Cardiac
Decompensation", is the same as the one I posted previously on the DJML,
to which you replied favorably offline. I am surprised that you had to
discuss my findings with three senior research colleagues, especially
when you must already have been aware of the error -- you say that "the
reporters [Reich and Gaines]... are not the first to fall into the trap
and be caught out".
Doctors do have notoriously bad handwriting, as I well know. I once
received a small booklet entitled "Better Writing" from a consultant to
whom I referred patients! The mistake probably arose from a wrong
reading of the diagnosis written on the death certificate by Dr. Bernard
Selber, although his writing is reasonably good. However, on reviewing a
copy of the original death certificate in my possession, the word
"Decompensation" could easily be misread by someone not conversant with
medical jargon. You ask, "whoever heard of a decomposed heart?" I might
suggest, too, that not  many people outside the health professions have
heard of a "decompensated heart".
You might be interested in other erroneous interpretations of Morton's
death certificate and medical history. I discuss these in the chapter on
"Cardiovascular Disease" in my book, "Jazz and Death. Medical Profiles
of Jazz Greats", published by the University Press of Mississippi.
Please send me, and interested listmates, the bibliographical citations
for the writers who "caught out " those who were "the first to fall into
the trap". This will enable me to acknowledge their primacy in any
further editions of my book. Regards.
Fred