"The patient appears to die from the body's response to infection": an apocryphal quote of William Osler.

The quote "Except on rare occasions, the patient appears to die from the body's reaction to the infection rather than from the infection itself" has been attributed to William Osler (1849-1919), a renowned Canadian physician. Since 2006, this quote has frequently appeared in articles, journals, theses, books, slide shares, websites, and on social media. It is often linked to his book "The Evolution of Modern Medicine", published seven years after his death. However, no such statement appears in that work, nor in any of Osler's other publications. This example describes how erroneous quotes can persist, illustrating that few people verify their accuracy by consulting the primary source.