Drug Given Churchill Contained Aspirin

The doctor to Winston Churchill, Britain’s wartime prime minister, may have unwittingly prolonged his life with a drug that contained aspirin, according to the doctor’s biographer.

Studies now indicate that stroke patients live longer if they take an aspirin tablet daily. That was not known when Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and was prescribed a medication that contained aspirin among other ingredients. He died in 1965 at age 90.

Lovell’s findings will be published in Saturday’s issue of the British Medical Journal.

In the 1950s, amphetamines, a stimulant, were commonly given to people who had strokes or “for people who felt mentally dull and for one reason or another wanted to be bumped up,” Lovell said.