Professor John Anthony Henry (Born: 11 March 1939 at
Greenwich, England
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
, died 8 May 2007) was a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
specialising in
toxicology
Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating e ...
in the Faculty of Medicine,
Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
, at
St Mary's Hospital in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
. He conducted research on the health effects of
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
,
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
and other
recreational drugs
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
.
Family and childhood
Henry was born in Greenwich on 11 March 1939, and was the eldest of four surviving children. His
father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
, Irish Doctor John Aloysius Henry, was a
general practitioner, and was the team doctor for
Millwall Football Club
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...
, which gave the young John a lifelong interest in
English Football
Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...
.
Education
Henry was educated first at
St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath, run by the
De Salle brothers. He attended
Medical School at
King's College London, and joined
Opus Dei as a twenty-year-old medical student, there as a "
numerary
Numerary may refer to:
*Numerary, one of the types of membership of Opus Dei
* Numerary protonotary, a historical position in Roman Catholic Church
*Numerary nexus, in musical tuning
*Numerary system in naval flag signalling
Naval flag signalli ...
", a celibate member. Throughout the rest of his life, he attended
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
daily, and set aside two periods a day for prayer and meditation.
[
]
Illness, involvement with St. Josemaria, and recovery
In 1969, while vacationing in Italy, Henry developed a throat infection which was inadequately treated, and caused kidney failure
Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
. His doctors thought it unlikely that he could survive long on dialysis, and he retired from medicine for five years. During this period, he became director of Netherhall House, a student hall in Hampstead where he was the director from 1967 until 1970.
St. Josemaria Escriva let it be known that he was praying that Henry would find a matching kidney, and Henry recovered due to a successful transplant in 1976. Henry always believed that his kidney and his recovery came about through Escriva's intercession
Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of praying to a deity on behalf of others, or asking a saint in heaven to pray on behalf of oneself or for others.
The Apostle Paul's exhortation to Timothy specified that intercession prayers s ...
.
Return to medicine and media appearances
Henry then returned to his career in medicine as a registrar
A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to:
Education
* Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records
* Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...
at Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...
, where he showed great compassion for his patients. In 1982, he was appointed consultant to the National Poisons Unit at Guy's, where he was successful in saving many lives, especially those of children who had ingested poisonous household products. He carried out research in toxicology
Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating e ...
to discover how those poisons worked and how to counteract them.
Henry was able to explain medical matters in layman terms, and was well versed in all aspects of drugs and poisons.
He took a special interest in the damage done to young people's lives by illegal drugs. He insisted that cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
was much more devastating than simple tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
, taking away the user's free-will, dignity, and destroying personalities and damaging society.
He also explained how ecstasy (MDMA) and amphetamines
Substituted amphetamines are a class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substituting, one or more hydrogen atoms in the amphetamine core structure with sub ...
could cause death by hyperpyrexia
Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...
and dehydration
In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...
. He was among the first to claim that the dangers of ecstasy were underestimated, and he briefly had the nickname "Mr E". He was called as an expert witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
for the inquest into the death of Leah Betts
Leah Sarah Betts (1 November 1977 – 16 November 1995) was a young woman from Latchingdon, Essex, United Kingdom, who died at age 18 after taking an MDMA, ecstasy (MDMA) tablet, and then drinking approximately of water in a 90 minute period. ...
, who died after drinking too much water after taking an ecstasy tablet at her 18th birthday party, and whose case became a cause célèbre
A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...
.
Death
In April 2007, Henry's transplanted kidney failed, and he went to hospital to have it removed. He appeared to be recovering well, but died of internal
Internal may refer to:
*Internality as a concept in behavioural economics
*Neijia, internal styles of Chinese martial arts
*Neigong or "internal skills", a type of exercise in meditation associated with Daoism
*''Internal (album)'' by Safia, 2016
...
hemorrhaging
Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vag ...
.
Toxicology
During the 2004 Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
elections, he noted that the opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
could have been poisoned using dioxins.
He was the clinical toxicologist
Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expo ...
who dealt with the poisoning case of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised ...
(at University College Hospital
University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lond ...
) in November 2006. Initially, he suggested poisoning from the metal thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. It is a gray post-transition metal that is not found free in nature. When isolated, thallium resembles tin, but discolors when exposed to air. Chemists William Crookes an ...
, although it later turned out that the toxin was polonium-210.
Television
Professor Henry appeared numerous times on television, including Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
's ''Equinox'', and Sky One's documentary entitled ''Poisoned'' - which primarily concentrated on the case of Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
. On one occasion Professor Henry even appeared on the Ali G show, having been told it was an educational programme, and talked about the dangers of hard drugs, brushing aside the jokes made at his expense. He last featured on an episode of '' Horizon, 'A Perfect Murder, in which he talked about the poisonings of Litvinenko and Yushchenko. The episode aired at 21:00 on 8 May 2007 - the same day that he died - and the programme makers acknowledged his death at the end of the credits.[
]
References
Other sources
The Times:Obituary - 14 May 2007
The Daily Telegraph:Obituary - 12 May 2007
* ttp://www.nh.netherhall.org.uk Netherhall House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, John
1939 births
2007 deaths
People educated at St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath
Alumni of King's College London
Academics of Imperial College London
20th-century English medical doctors
English Roman Catholics
Opus Dei members
Kidney transplant recipients
Deaths from bleeding
British toxicologists
Physicians of St Mary's Hospital, London