More:

Some doubts were raised even at the time. At least one contemporary pathologist working for the Public Health Service thought that the amount of lung damage seen during autopsies in early deaths was too little to attribute to viral pneumonia, and that the large amounts of bloody, watery liquid in the lungs must have had some other cause…

But of the many factors that might have influenced the outcome in any particular case, Dr. Starko wrote, aspirin overdose stands out for several reasons, including a confluence of historical events…

The Journal of the American Medical Association suggested a dose of 1,000 milligrams every three hours, the equivalent of almost 25 standard 325-milligram aspirin tablets in 24 hours. This is about twice the daily dosage generally considered safe today…

Doubling the dose given at six-hour intervals can cause a 400 percent increase in the amount of the medicine that remains in the body.

50 million people dying of aspirin overdose doesn't seem likely, though I can see how it could have contributed to a much smaller number of deaths.

Very interesting.