But why would a doctor just assume that he was an overdosed junkie? Was there no examination at all? And if there was, what led to that specific conclusion?
Lacking any credible statements to the contrary, I have no reason to doubt the first-hand accounts of this incident. It's a loaded accusation, but nobody's come forward with anything to counter it.
The honey use, as mentioned by various sources, was no doubt disastrous. It seems that the medical community was in a relatively primitive level of awareness about diabetes compared to today.
The lump was a "wen":
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3271400/#:~:text=A trichilemmal cyst (also known,skin[1%2C2].