In how many different ways can humans die? How many different things can happen to a human body that would, without intervention, be fatal? For example:
Being burned alive
Drowning
Getting shot in the head
Getting shot in the heart
Heart attack
Starving
Brain aneurysm
Decapitation
Electrocution
Poisoning
Strangulation
Dehydration
Suffocation
Falling from a great height
Bleeding to death
Boiled alive
Getting blown up
Ruptured appendix
Gangreen
What others can we add?
We just saw death by carrot in Shoot 'em Up.
Some of your categories seem arbitrary. What’s the difference between strangulation and suffocation for example? Both are death caused by a lack of oxygen.
I’d say all deaths are caused by either the loss, stoppage, or malfunction of a vital organ. The particular organ that goes first (because all the others will immediately follow) or the cause of that organ’s problem are minor details. A blood clot in the brain, a bullet in the heart, a cancerous tumor in the liver, or a liter of water in the lungs will all cause death equally.
I remember reading once that there were only five main official categories of death: Natural causes, homicide, suicide, accident and undetermined.
I’ve always been fond of the term “Death by Misadventure” myself.
I remember a quote ( but not where from) that; when you get right down to it, every death can be classed as ‘heart failure’.
Death by ugh goo
You could always be hit by a speeding ice cream truck.
Strangulation is the constriction of the windpipe so that air cannot pass through it. Suffocation can occur by blocking the air’s entry through the mouth and nose or simply by the absence of oxygen in the breathable atmosphere, as when someone runs a car engine in a closed garage.
IIRC, all deaths ultimately result from lack of oxygen-rich blood to the brain.
There’s always chichi.
Pssst. Look up to post #6
Jump headfirst off a thirty story building. Your heart and lungs will be working fine and your brain will be full of oxygen-rich blood right up until the moment of impact and you’ll be dead less than a second later. Sometimes people die too quickly for their oxygen to give out.
You missed death by crushing.
Death by stereo?
There’s sudden unexpected death. Hoo boy—there’s a lot of them:
So should we then say that all death is either caused by a lack of perfusion in the brain or by the compromised physical integrity of the brain itself?
Death by chocolate
all death is by lactic acidodsis
Death by snusnu!
Okay, but just this once.
Run over by badgers.