When:Where: Britain.
Searched: Various books. Medical journals. Googled: various permutations of peers, lords, knights, doctors, treatment, 1920s, &c. &c.
Situation: I consider myself rather well versed in British history, but this one threw me for a loop.
While reading on the death of New Zealand physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford, I came across this on wikipedia:
"He was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1925 and in 1931 was created Baron Rutherford of Nelson, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge, a title which became extinct upon his unexpected death in hospital following an operation for an umbilical hernia(1937). Since he was a Lord, British protocol required that he be operated on by a titled doctor, and the delay cost him his life."
Now, I've never heard of this before. Do any medical experts or historians know more about this curious piece of esoterica I knew nowt about?
ADDENDUM:
"Rutherford died unfortunately in 1937 of a strangulated hernia. Being a Lord, protocol required that he be operated on by a titled doctor. The delay cost him his life."
~ "Rutherford. Scientist Supreme" : J. Campbell, Foreword by M. Oliphant
