Etymology

the cure is worse than the disease

Today it means: The medical treatment for an illness produces a worse net result than the illness does (or threatens a non-negligible risk of doing so), especially via adverse effects. Full definition →

Latin aegrescit medendo
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromaegrescit medendo
  2. English todaythe cure is worse than the disease

From Latin aegrescit medendo (literally “it worsens with healing”) attributed to Virgil in book XII of the Aeneid.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.