Dying good for your health claims quack

A British doctor has today claimed that dying is the best thing you can do for the sake of your health. Dr. Mark English made the claim at a conference, and later had to assure colleagues, friends and family that he was "not joking" when making his statements.

"It was weird," claimed doctor of psychology Emerald Watts. "He was on the podium and all of a sudden it was like something had clicked in his brain; perhaps he reached an epiphany. Anyway, he stepped back for a moment before clutching the podium once more and, with a smile like a dolphin announced 'Dying, in fact, is absolutely the best way to be healthy'."

The actual claims are documented in an email sent to all the conference guests on the morning after, summarising Dr. English's standpoint:

"Dying, it now appears to me, is singularly the simplest way to improve one's health record. Only in death are we truly free of the feelings, debilitations and general crappiness that being ill causes. If one could only harness death, we would escape the drudgery and inconvenience of unhealthiness; dying truly is the absolute best thing for your health."

Some have already challenged Dr. English, at least partially on the basis that if you looked at the medical chart of an unwell person, and that of a cadaver, it's likely you'd see much more positive signs from the not-dead person. Another counter-claim has focused on the fact that microbially, dead people tend also to be rather worse off.