Dying of Old Age: A BS CoD that needs to be more specific - C'mon really, what REALLY broke? Heart? Lungs? Kidneys? Liver? Artery?

[Koby_Fish]

Just today I saw a story where it said the death of Queen Elizabeth II was confirmed as "died of Old Age" (and its cousin "Natural Causes" - which to me is only useful in the context that "this death was NOT a Homicide").

That's so ridiculously generalized I find it offensive. I mean yeah, when a person gets really old, shit breaks and they die. But obviously SOMETHING has to break for a person to die, no matter what age they are. I mean, I'd be happy with "Massive Organ Failure" rather than "Oops, got too old and suddenly croaked, RIP." Like, what was it? Kidney Failure, Liver Failure, Stroke, Brain Bleed/Aneurism, Heart attack, Cancer, Lungs suddenly decided to stop working, or Everything At Once? They do it for younger people.

 

[Shig O'nella]

One of the dumber thoughts I've seen, but I'll give you an answer since young and fearful ain't a crime. Yet.

Lot of the time you simply can't tell what the cause of death is.
Everything starts wearing out when you get old, and since every body system is interconnected in complex and sometimes surprisingly unintuitive ways there is frequently not just one cause to be assigned.

"Old Age" looks better as a CoD than the more accurate "Fuck knows, shit just wore out until the patient stopped."

 

[Koby_Fish]

One of the dumber thoughts I've seen, but I'll give you an answer since young and fearful ain't a crime. Yet.

Lot of the time you simply can't tell what the cause of death is.
Everything starts wearing out when you get old, and since every body system is interconnected in complex and sometimes surprisingly unintuitive ways there is frequently not just one cause to be assigned.

"Old Age" looks better as a CoD than the more accurate "Fuck knows, shit just wore out until the patient stopped."

I get that, but it just seems so "dismissive" to me - like, there's times where people die, and they dismiss it as "old age" when the person either stroked out or very clearly died of a heart attack. It's also the kind of mentality that dismisses the death of an Old when homicide could be the cause (via Elder Abuse or whatever).

 

[Shig O'nella]

I get that, but it just seems so "dismissive" to me - like, there's times where people die, and they dismiss it as "old age" when the person either stroked out or very clearly died of a heart attack. It's also the kind of mentality that dismisses the death of an Old when homicide could be the cause (via Elder Abuse or whatever).

I guess it is dismissive in a way - there's certainly a lot more effort to establish a single CoD in a young person, despite knowing exactly how they died (assuming natural causes) being a singularly useless bit of information. Not like you can bring them back and fix it, is it.

 

[DumbDude43]

its not always possible to determine an exact cause of death. sometimes you have a clear disease (cancer for example) but in other cases, even if you do a full autopsy (which is rarely done on routine old people deaths) you usually just see that there were lots of interconnected health problems in the patient and it isn't really possible to pinpoint one as the culprit.
like, if someone had artery disease, and also copd from smoking, and atrophied brain from alzheimers, and a fatty liver, plus reduced kidney function, high cholesterol, and on top of that there's a bit of malnutrition and dehydration due to loss of apetite, you can't really tell what exactly made the patients heart give out at the time it did.

 

[Just A Butt]

who the fuck cares old people are useless

 

[DeadwastePrime]

who the fuck cares old people are useless

say that until you get to old age then come back to us

 

[MidUSA]

I assume there would be possible to pin down more specific failure points and reasons for an old person dying, but it would claim a lot of resources to do so. Plus, as others have pointed out, often you wouldn't get a clear and isolated reason for death even after a thorough autopsy.

Determining the exact causes for younger people might be more valuable data, since it'll probably be one obvious thing who went wrong and so you can use the data to see trends in the population or spot if there's something hereditary in the family etc.

 

[Chocolate Wombat]

In the Queen's case it might be because they don't want to reveal the truth, that she's a reptilian alien from Tau Ceti 5 and isn't really dead. She's just moved into an uberbunker for the next 100 years, it's like a vacation for them.

 

[Just A Butt]

say that until you get to old age then come back to us

grandpa detected

 

[Koby_Fish]

yes yes give me your moons!

Well I mean, finding out causes of death for old people is useful for the "extend the youth/lifespan" crowd. If you want to keep shit from breaking down, you need to know how and when they break down.

 

[Ultrapenguin]

yes yes give me your moons!

Well I mean, finding out causes of death for old people is useful for the "extend the youth/lifespan" crowd. If you want to keep shit from breaking down, you need to know how and when they break down.

Actually, that's exactly why I was going to say I support just labeling it as "they were old". By trying to find a specific part that failed, it encourages people to think this is a process to be dissected and dealt with reactively like you're working on a car. It's really transhumanist.

Not that everyone should give up and die at age 40 like in pre history, but the goal shouldn't be just to keep people biologically functioning. Health needs to be viewed as a more holistic process instead of something to be kept running on duct tape and shoe string. Something gave out, and if it hadn't something else would've.

I think it's more dignified and sane to say they simply reached the end of their life, like everything does.

 

[murph]

I heard rumors of bone cancer but all cancer eventually becomes bone cancer.

Spoiler alert, we all die, and she lived long and it's time to let go.

 

[Angry Alt Right Nerd]

They're not going to cut open an old person's corpse to find the cause of something that's completely expected.

 

[Just A Butt]

cut open an old person's corpse

why not there might be gold hidden in there

 

[Kujo Jotaro]

You've never watched an elderly person slowly wither away have you? I've seen it first hand countless time's, an autopsy, let alone a detailed and thorough one, would be pointless; when you reach a certain age(indeterminate since its different for each person) your body just starts failing you, one system in particular might be the cause such as the heart or lungs, however much of the time you just enter into a state referred to as "actively dying" which is just to say your body is slowly shutting down, and you're now close to death.

 

[Manul Otocolobus]

Here are the most typical causes of death broken down by age and gender, and for white people for both genders, in the US, over the last 10 years:

Men:


Women:


White People:


For anyone wondering "External Causes" means car accident, getting shot, trying to take a selfie and falling off a building, etc...

Overall, it's likely that your circulatory system will get you in the end (Myocardial Infarction [Heart Attack] or Cerebrovascular Accident [Stroke]). If not, your next best bets are Pulmonary (COPD or Pneumonia) or Nervous System (Complications of Parkinson's or Alzheimer's).

The above graphs are probably about as good as you will get. I doubt the bullshit about "Old Age" and "Natural Causes" will change any time soon.

 

[SwanSwanson]

It makes no sense to specify since the older you get the more you fall apart. Your liver, your lungs, your arteries or your heart? Who cares about specifying part?

 

[Haramburger]

Telomeres frayed like sneaker laces

 

[Bonesjones]

say that until you get to old age then come back to us

I'm young and useless, so why would that change?