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Time - Man of the Year
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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 19HEALTH & SCIENCEWhat Ailed Tiny Tim
A literary diagnosis offers a footnote to a classic holiday
tale
For years audiences have cried at the dight of the undersized
lad bearing a single crutch who rides atop his father's
shoulder. But Charles Dickens never revealed just what is wrong
with Tiny Tim Cratchit, whose life is in chronic peril each
Christmas. American pediatric neurologist Donald Lewis
apparently couldn't take it anymore. After examining the
literature, literally, on Tim, Dr. Lewis has come up with a
professional diagnosis: distal renal tubular acidosis. According
to A Christmas Carol, Tiny Tim lives to enjoy Christmases Yet
to Come, thanks to a reformed Scrooge and his trio of
conscience-raising phantoms. Dr. Lewis' analysis doesn't rule
out that happy outcome -- medics of the time had an effective
antacid treatment for Tim's condition.