London's death certificate...decipher its medicalese

The certificate reads, in part:

"Nov 22, 1916
The Cause of Death was as follows:
Uraemia following renal colic, 1 or more days
Contributor: Chronic Interstitial Nephritis 3 years
State whether attributed to dangerous or unsanitary conditions of employment: No
(Signed) William S Porter, MD"

Roughly translated - he died from kidney failure after having had more than a day of pain attributed to the kidneys [usually from stones, occasionally from bleeding], also he had had kidney problems for the previous three years.

Drinking one's own urine doesn't generally lead to kidney failure by itself. Dehydration, maybe, or other chemical imbalances. There's nothing here to support the drank-his-own-urine hypothesis. "Healthy" urine would be sterile, too, so it would be unlikely to get an infection from drinking it.

Interesting that they were recording and tracking workplace conditions at that time. OSHA foreshadowed. We don't do that any more (in Massachusetts, anyway) though we do record military service or its absence.

Also interesting how legible the doctor's handwriting was! Medicine must have been a far more leisurely, if frustrating, calling in those days.