Cause of death

[carolegif]

I am researching an ancestor of someone in my genealogy group and I have discovered that he absconded during WW1 and was sent to an asylum in Wales where he died a few months later of 'paralysis of the insane'. Does anyone know what this is/ Did he have shellshock?
There seems to be a bit of a cover up as his file has 42 documents in it asking about his military record which seems to have mysteriously disappeared after his death, some have clearly been tampered with and there is an enquiry going on two years after his death.

many thanks1

[ABerrant]

http://en.wikipedia.o...paresis_of_the_insane

[Sqad]

GPI....General Paralysis of the Insane in the 1900´`s would be due to an advanced stage of Syphilis.

[carolegif]

I see that it can be a complication of syphilis, however there is no mention of syphilis on his earlier medical records. I believe that something happened to him on the battlefield that led to him deserting when he was due to go back to the front.

[Sqad]

carole....I cannot comment except to say that the commonest cause of GPI in that era was the disease that I have mentioned.

[ABerrant]

"In 1913 all doubt about the syphilitic nature of paresis was finally eliminated when Noguchi and Moore demonstrated the syphilitic spirochaetes in the brains of paretics."

[carolegif]

I'd better be careful how I tell her about it! He was Italian after all!!!

[ABerrant]

It is possible that a "cover up" (if that is indeed the case) could include a misdiagnosis.

[carolegif]

I think he had problems before and that was why he went awol. he had a wife and six children in England. I think they caught him and sent him to an asylum where he died eight months later.