AIBU to question why they put "Died of old age" on Prince Philip's death certificate?

[SolarLightxoxo]

I mean everyone dies of something surely? It's not like you come to a certain age and you just drop dead.

I instantly recognised the look and knew he did not have long left.

Me too, he looked like my father did in his last days. It sounds as though it was peaceful anyway.

What does it matter to anyone other than his family what he died of?

As far as anyone else is concerned.... he's dead.... end of discussion.

@Bleachmycloths

I doubt the death certificate would have said ‘old age.’ Wouldn’t it say ‘natural causes’?

MIL's said definitely said old age.

Where did you read that’s the cause of death on his death certificate?

All I can find is this, www.independent.co.uk/life-style/royal-family/prince-philip-cause-of-death-b1842297.html, which isn’t saying that his cause of death was recorded on death certificate but just what the palace confirmed. Not the same.

Well you sort of do die of a old age because everything stops working gradually

@Overdale

My father recently died and the cause if death on his death certificate was old age. When I saw Prince Philip leaving the hospital I instantly recognised the look and knew he did not have long left.

Indeed. There is a medical name for this look - cachectic. Strictly speaking, it means wasting due to particular diseases, but it's used more generally to mean 'the look'.

@Overdale

My father recently died and the cause if death on his death certificate was old age. When I saw Prince Philip leaving the hospital I instantly recognised the look and knew he did not have long left.

Agree! When I seen him in the car he looked like the living dead! Like you I've seen that before

He wouldn’t have had a post mortem as he was obviously seen by a doctor 14 days before his death. His body was knackered, probably multiple organ failure, just extreme old age.

Your comment about not wanting to know your expiry date got me thinking about a best before date.

@YouKnowItsTrue

Your comment about not wanting to know your expiry date got me thinking about a best before date.

I think l probably had a best before 40 years old date on my body looking back!

At his age- Stating Bleeding Obvious!

Used to work as a registrar. Some of the old death records recorded, "Visitation by God" - I thought that was a quaint phrase.

The man was 99.

[quote Sarahrellyboo1987]@Oyvavoy you’re not a medic in this country, yet you’re implying you know better than the doctors here.
Old Age is perfectly acceptable cause of death in many countries. People get old...they die! 🙄[/quote]
Read the articles i linked to and you may understand better the issues.

[quote MissLucyEyelesbarrow]@Oyvavoy I am enjoying our debate

I think we are, to an extent, talking at cross-purposes. There are two groups of patients, when it comes to death certificates:

1. Have had autopsy: cause of death usually established precisely
2. Everyone else - educated guess most of the time.

For group 1, using a precise code is helpful for understanding disease and planning health care because it helps epidemiologists know how many people are dying of any given condition.

But for group 2, using a precise code won't do that, because it's a best guess. In fact, by using a precise code when you are just guessing, you will dilute the accurate coding of group 1.

As a statistician, it may give comfort to feel that all deaths have been given a precise code. But, to plan health care, it is much more useful to know that, of each 100 people autopsied, 10 definitely died of heart disease, than to know that, of every 10,000 non-autopsied deaths, doctors guessed that 1,500 were due to heart disease.[/quote]
Of course precision is not better than accuracy. Better an estimate than to be precisely wrong! Couldnt agree more about that.

I think before our discussion my mindset was that it should never be used but now you've got me thinking that perhaps it is appropriate as a last resort in a country like the UK which does generally record cause of death well compared with most other countries.

Always good to have your assumptions and perspective challenged so thank you for that!

Here in the USA, it is required to put a specific cause of death. "Old age" is not accepted, which just makes me crazy. Old age can be, in my opinion, a legitimate cause of death. It's the culmination of many small things as organs just...wear out. A rather irreverent but very funny doctor friend of mine refers to it as "The J. P. Frog Syndrom," "Just Plain F'ing Ran Out of Gas."

@Mamanyt

Here in the USA, it is required to put a specific cause of death. "Old age" is not accepted, which just makes me crazy. Old age can be, in my opinion, a legitimate cause of death. It's the culmination of many small things as organs just...wear out. A rather irreverent but very funny doctor friend of mine refers to it as "The J. P. Frog Syndrom," "Just Plain F'ing Ran Out of Gas."

Before this thread started, this is as I would have expected and I would have thought it quite right and good and proper that old age isn't allowed as a cause of death and glad to hear that this is the case in the US. Now I'm starting to doubt my stance!

Probably because he was very old. Whatever was technically failing him, for arguments sake, let's say his heart, that was clearly because of his old age.

@AlecTrevelyan006

I suspect many Covid deaths among the very elderly were really just deaths of old age.

Most didn't have covid on in that situation in dh's experience. We know my nana had covid when she died but it isn't mentioned. DH knows some of his probate clients had covid when they died but the very elderly clients don't mention it, or it's referred to as a secondary condition.

I'm sure some will say it but it seems to be evened out with some without it being mentioned, Guess the actual age of the patient may well have a bearing too.

All old age means is that they were old and declining and don't really know what they died of.

But in many cases when it's a very elderly person the actual cause won't be known. Do,we then subject the family to going through an autopsy for each non obvious case, which will be numerous,

Not a chance we'd have wanted that for my nana.

She'd been through enough in her last few days when alive. We wouldn't have had her go through the indignity of an autopsy after her death when there was no real reason to do so.

@mamanyt - love The JPFrog syndrome - sums it up perfectly

I’m sorry but you’re incorrect here. Old age is common usage on death certs. Where someone is over 80 , has had a general decline in health over a few years and there is no clear single cause of death what could you put? We’d need to post mortem everyone who died, and even then we’d generally not get an answer. Organs gradually fail and then we die.

My grannie (age 89) had dinner out with family one evening, made plans for the next few weeks then went to bed and didn’t wake up. Although she has passed in the night, she looked so peaceful the next morning & just as though she was still asleep.

She was a sharp, clever & wonderful lady but her body was tired. It is comforting to see that they put her death down as old age rather than something she suffered from.

Whywonttheyhelpme

I am so sorry for your loss. It was the very best departure, though. That’s what I hope for, when it’s my turn. 🌹