Cure the disease and kill the patient. (Francis Bacon)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To solve a problem but cause more harm in the process
Literally: heal the sickness and kill the person
Examples
The new policy aimed to reduce costs, but it ended up curing the disease and killing the patient
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Cure the disease and kill the patient. (Francis Bacon)” mean?
To solve a problem but cause more harm in the process Literally: heal the sickness and kill the person
Is “Cure the disease and kill the patient. (Francis Bacon)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.