| 词源 |
the old man’s friend. A name given to pneumonia because the disease can relieve the suffering of old people if left untreat- ed. The expression was recently used in a New York Times op ed piece by Dr. Batton H. Lerner: “Was Mr. Reagan’s pneumo- nia the cause of his death, aggressively treated with antibiotics, or was the disease allowed to be ‘the old man’s friend’?” See the long goodbye. |