http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/st...toryid=2252003
Cirrhosis of the liver 'killed Arafat'
PALESTINIAN leader Yasser Arafat died of cirrhosis of the liver, but French doctors were loath to say so because of a common public belief that the disease is the result of alcoholism, reports indicated yesterday.
Doctors described Mr Arafat as "a true water drinker" and not an alcoholic, according to the paper,
Le Canard Enchaine. The weekly is well known for political satire and accurate investigations.
Allegations that Mr Arafat was a heavy drinker, which is forbidden in Islam, would have clouded the mourning that began on November 11, when he died. The report that Mr Arafat, 75, was suffering from cirrhosis was bolstered by an article in
Le Monde, which said he had suffered from "intravascular coagulation", a blood clotting condition that can be a sign of late-stage liver failure and can be consistent with cirrhosis.
Le Monde, citing "very good sources", reported that doctors couldn't make an indisputable diagnosis since the blood abnormality "is not a disease as such, but the symptom of a pathology, which in a patient of his age is either of infectious origin or of cancerous origin".
Doctors found no evidence of cancer.
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I think we'll have to take this one with a grain of salt.