Emily Chan
When George Washington died on the night of December 14, 1799, the nation mourned the loss of its first president.
While the country grieved over Washington’s demise, one man refused to accept his death. Dr. William Thornton, a trained physician and a friend to the former president, devised a plan to bring Washington back to life.
After riding his horse through cold, wet, and snowy weather, Washington contracted a virulent throat infection.
On the evening of December 13, 1799, he woke up struggling to swallow and breathe. Doctors were called to his home in Mount Vernon and tended to him all night long.
In an effort to cure him, they drained 40 percent of his blood, a procedure called bloodletting, which was commonly performed during that time.
The doctors also administered various tonics that came close to choking the president. Eventually, he asked them to stop what they were doing.
When Thornton received news of Washington’s illness, he hurried to Mount Vernon, but by the time he showed up, the president had already passed away.
Still, Thornton was convinced that he could revive Washington. He wanted to conduct an extremely rare and risky method of surgery called a tracheotomy.
Thornton was a graduate of a top medical school in Scotland. He was born in the West Indies in 1759 and raised in England.
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