A GREATER DANGER

Dr. Dennis Breo interviewed doctors who had treated famous personalities. He later published a book titled Extraordinary Care (1986), in which he revealed some striking facts.

He wrote that famous personalities often turn out to be “impossible patients.” For example, Hitler suffered from a skin disease, but he considered it beneath his dignity to remove his clothes in front of a doctor. As a result, he never received proper treatment. The American billionaire Howard Hughes had a decayed tooth but never opened his mouth for a doctor. Instead, he preferred to drink alcohol to dull the pain.

About the Shah of Iran, he wrote:

“The Shah of Iran refused to be treated for his leukemia because he felt it would weaken him politically.” (The Times of India, March 19, 1987, p.7)

The Shah considered his blood disease a threat to his rule. But later events showed that political disorder was the greater danger. What ended his reign was not leukemia, but political turmoil. He ignored the bigger threat and focused all his attention on the smaller one. As a result, his government collapsed precisely when he thought he had secured it.

Worrying about small dangers while ignoring bigger ones is often the main cause of failure—whether for famous people or ordinary ones.