Tuesday 7 April 2009

Cry me a river

Once again we have evidence of the Sun's journalists not bothering to make even a minimal effort into researching what they are reporting.

From today's Sun:
A GIRL has become a holy shrine in India where worshippers watch her cry blood instead of tears.

Doctors in Patna, north-east India, have been stumped by Rashida Khatoon's condition, which causes her to shed tears of blood several times a day.

But local Hindu holy men have declared her a miracle.
It's not a miracle, that's for sure. A quick Google search for "cry blood" brings up this article on WikiAnswers:
Q. How do you cry blood?

A. [...] The condition is called Haemolacria. It is actually a symptom of various diseases. One specific cause could be a tumor in or near the tear duct.
The Haemolacria article on Wikipedia states:
Haemolacria is a physical condition whereby a person produces tears which are partially composed of blood. This can manifest as anything from red-tinged tears to those which appear to be entirely blood.

Haemolacria is a symptom of a number of diseases, and may also be indicative of a tumour in the lacrimal apparatus.
I think that the girl would be better off seeing a competent doctor because, if they are "stumped", the ones she has seen don't know what they are doing.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Forgot to add...

The whole of my research took about 30 seconds, which is less time that than what it would take to write the original article.

DCA Buster said...

It's the typical religion vs. science debate. I have no doubt that there are skilled doctors in India but it's clear that the doctor this girl visited is some sort of "voodoo cleric" if he believes that she has been chosen by their much vaunted gods to bleed from her eyes. Typical religious nonsense again when a perfectly scientific and demonstratable fact is really the culprit.