Illnesses, deaths and St Mungo's

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18987

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Milz" <absinthe at m...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "*Lilith Morgana*" <lilith_snape at h...> 
> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > This is a question that I've been considering posting a couple of 
> > times before and I'm sorry if you already discussed it to the 
> > breaking point somewhere earlier. It's also something that's been 
> > bothering me since I started writing on my fanfiction.  
> > What about witches/wizards and illnesses? We know very little 
about 
> > this. 

> > Is it so that only magic can kill a wizard? Is it impossible for 
> them 
> > to get deathly sick unless it's a magical decease and given to 
them 
> > by another wizard? 

It's questions like these that make me long for additional volumes 
that will provide all sorts of background information on the wizard 
world.  Of course, only the truly obsessed would want all of JKR's 
background notes to the series published, which wouldn't include ANY 
of us, right?

IIRC, there have been no mentions of wizards dying of natural causes, 
other than old age (Nicolas Flamel and his wife), or am I forgetting 
something?   


 
> > And another thing- do you think that there among the wizards are 
> some 
> > more suitable to cure and heal people, like Healers, to compare 
> with 
> > Parselmouths ;-) *grin*
> 
> I think the Wizarding population uses medicinal potions the same 
way 
> and for the same reasons as we use medicinal potions (medications). 
> Granted the wizarding variety might work faster and might have 
> interesting side effects (Pepper Up Potion causes smoke to come out 
> of one's ears). 
> 
> I do think that the magical pharmaceutical companies are still 
> figuring out cures for magical maladies, such as werewolf-ism and 
the 
> madness afflicting the Longbottoms. If magic could cure 
*everything*, 
> Gilderoy Lockhart would probably have his memory back and would be 
> writing a new book "Braving the Basilisk".
> 
> Lupin tells Ron and Harry that Madame Pomphrey can mend bones 
better 
> than he. I think some magical people have a greater aptitude at 
> healing magical arts than others.
> 
Yes, but doesn't it seem like healers would also be adept at brewing 
potions?  Snape is the one who prepares the Wolfbane potion for 
Remus.  I recall that Remus tells Harry that this is a very complex 
potion and he's thankful that he's working with someone as talented 
as Snape in oreder to obtain this potion.  Granted that most healers 
are probably not dealing with lycanthropy on a regular basis, but the 
implication seems to be that healers may not have the skills to 
prepare complex, extraordinary brews.  

Marianne