# Dying of "Old Age" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036 "2005-11-02T04:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/21 "2005-11-05T13:44:06Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Almost 10 years ago my grandma died of an unspecified malady. Basically she was suffering from fevers of unknown origin and after a few months quietly slipped away. The Doc told us that she had simply died of old age. On the death cirtificate he put “natural causes.” What’s really confusing is when a younger person dies of “natural causes”. It does happen, but it never sounds right to me. Natural causes: If a person drinks a half-gallon of booze daily for 20 years, _naturally they’re going to die of liver disease._ ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/22 "2005-11-05T15:56:21Z")
You guys realise you’re having a debate with a doctor over this? Just before anyone else makes themselves look silly… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/23 "2005-11-05T16:04:31Z")
Well, I know they don’t autopsy everyone. Young folks, yes…but not old people, unless the family specifically asks for one. Without an autopsy, they have no way of knowing what killed an old person. Even if they were sick and under a doctor’s care. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/24 "2005-11-05T16:07:30Z")
I know they don’t autopsy everyone either, however I’m sure it’s different in different countries, and apparantly they do a heck of a lot more autopsies in Ireland than they do in Australia or the US. But still I think it’s funny that Quartz is debating a doctor with links to Snopes. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/25 "2005-11-05T16:11:33Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > I know they don’t autopsy everyone either, however I’m sure it’s different in different countries, and apparantly they do a heck of a lot more autopsies in Ireland than they do in Australia or the US. > > But still I think it’s funny that Quartz is debating a doctor with links to Snopes. We’re so freekin’ christian here in the U.S., and in my experience christians (and Jews) really dislike the idea of autopsy unless foul play is suspected. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/26 "2005-11-05T16:21:38Z")
It’s not just religious people. Generally when grandma dies at 90 the rellies don’t care why but they want the body intact for the funeral. Course, most of the people I’ve seen die (and it’s getting up to the triple digits now!) have a cause of death known anyway. Mostly stroke, cancer, and kidney failure. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/27 "2005-11-05T16:55:17Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > But still I think it’s funny that Quartz is debating a doctor with links to Snopes. She made a statement that was factually incorrect. Fighting ignorance, remember? And we’ve rather drifted from the OP. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/28 "2005-11-05T16:57:16Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > Ban all discussion of death? Why? Approaching the age of geratrics and afraid to die and face the unknown. Everyone should prepare for the unescapable appointment with death. It is the one appointment that everyone will keep ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/29 "2005-11-05T17:38:00Z")
In the US it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In my area, all “unattended” deaths are investigated (which may or may not mean an autopsy is done - I don’t know). However, if the deceased was under a physician’s care, the physician could sign the death certificate without an investigation. My father died alone at home but we were spared the anguish of an investigation because he’d been a heart patient for 15 years and his cardiologist signed his death certificate. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/30 "2005-11-05T18:14:08Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > **Smiling Bandit** : Unlikely as it may seem, old people DON’T just drop dead with no warning. Oh yes they do! Sudden arrhythmias, acute coronary obstructions, massive ischemic strokes often occur without prodrome, and result in death in seconds or minutes. And if they occur during sleep, well, that’s all, folks. I’d estimate that about a quarter of the deaths of the elderly in my former practice tended to be of the “they were fine, went to bed, and woke up dead” variety. Frankly, it’s not a bad way to go. And more than once, I’ve written “cardiac arrest” on a death certificate, and filed it as a natural death. You think I’m going to order a post on an 87 year old woman who woke up dead that way? Sometimes the coroner and I have chatted about such a case, but that’s mainly to get my assurance that I believed it was a natural death. I don’t recall having the coroner request autopsy on any of the folks that I certified that way. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/31 "2005-11-05T21:03:03Z")
> [@](#): > > by **Irishgirl** > smiling bandit-the people who “wake up dead” die of massive strokes, heart attacks and brain haemorhages, not “old age”. that’s why you put the appropriate cause of of death as “stroke”, “brain haemorrhage” or “heart attack”. And Old Age is the cause of breakdown. But the don’t put Old AGe on the death certificate; they put “Natural Causes.” And those are indeed pretty natural. And generally speaking, they’ll just take a look, if that, and scribble one of those down. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/32 "2005-11-05T21:10:00Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > Approaching the age of geratrics and afraid to die and face the unknown. > > Everyone should prepare for the unescapable appointment with death. It is the one appointment that everyone will keep I love that Moody Blues song! **kniz** , I’m sorry for whatever you’re going through/went through. Unless you’re just wallowing in self-pity 'til the Reaper comes. More Cowbell! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/33 "2005-11-05T21:44:04Z")
> [@Silentgoldfish](#): > > But still I think it’s funny that Quartz is debating a doctor with links to Snopes. Last I heard, **Irishgirl** was a medical student. With all due respect to her, the average medical student often knows just enough to be _really_ dangerous. 😃 While I, on the other hand, have forgotten enough to be _really_ dangerous. But I’ve tried to make sure I only forgot the stuff they taught me that turned out to not be true or outdated. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/34 "2005-11-06T02:48:45Z")
Don’t sell yourself short, **QtM**. The next time I go to prison, I want it to be yours! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/35 "2005-11-06T05:28:49Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Last I heard, **Irishgirl** was a medical student. With all due respect to her, the average medical student often knows just enough to be _really_ dangerous. 😃 Fair enough – it’s just that snopes! vs a med student! Still seems funny to me :). ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/36 "2005-11-06T14:31:21Z")
I get you **QtM**. Totally. I’m not really debating that elderly people just die, it’s just that putting “natural causes” or “cardiac arrest” on a death cert will get you an angry phonecall from the coroner here, and probably an exhumation order. I think in the USA you have a different coronial system, in ours, no “official” cause of death, means the death cert is illegal. Natural causes and cardiac arrest are not on the list of official causes of death. Yes, we do have higher autopsy rates, more cororner’s inquests and so on. Og knows I had to sit through enough lectures (i.e. rants) by the Dublin coroner, to have “don’t fill out the death cert unless you have an actual cause of death” burned into my brain forever. The “unexplained” dropping dead is the one type of death that should be autopsied. Unless they have a history of heart disease, minor stroke or arrythmias, death can’t be ascribed to them. I think most of this might be a case of different horses for different courses. I.E. Irish system in Ireland, American system in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036/37 "2005-11-06T16:10:28Z")
And I am most certainly not a doctor. Talk to me again in May and my answer might be different. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-of-old-age/329036.md?page=1)