Scared to death?

August 12, 2009 8:11 PM

What is this story about someone literally scared to death?

Please help me find this story:

In India, a team executed a prisoner by telling him that he would bleed to death drop by drop, and then instead letting water drip on to the floor. And then he died. Something to this effect.

Somehow it was an experiment about the mind-body connection. And maybe it was quoted by Jerome Groopman (or in another pop medical book).

I recall that it was quoted as an actual medical article with references. Has anyone else head of this article? Could you direct me to it? Anything similar in PubMed?

posted by ladypants to health & fitness (2 comments total)

"For once fiction writers and doctors agree: it's possible to die of fright, or for that matter grief, anger, joy, or just about any other intense emotion."
More here, at the always wonderful The Straight Dope.
posted by wfrgms at 9:00 PM on August 12

You might also want to look at the practice of 'pointing the bone' (Kurdaitcha): an practice amongst several tribes of Australian Aborigines. The wikipedia article mentions some sociological references about it, but nothing medical.
posted by TheOtherGuy at 12:56 AM on August 13