Cause of death (sorry a bit morbid. Maybe triggering)

[HelloDoggy]

Was reading that the queen's official cause of death was 'old age'. Which got me thinking - what is this? When someone old dies, what actually happens? I always assumed there was something which caused the death like a heart attack, cancer, malnutrition, or something. What does dying by 'old age' actually mean? Surely something in the body must have 'broken'/'stopped working'? Why isn't that something noted as the cause of death?

Age can't kill you surely. It must be the consequence of aging that kill you?

Dying of old age IS the battery dying! It just runs out

Cells cease division and you lose homeostasis

Thanks. I like the flowers analogy. Yes, I find it weird and puzzling too, makes me think a lot. I hope I die of 'old age' whatever that is 💐

Exactly this. Think of an old car with a hundred thousand miles on the clock. It may seem to be running smoothly but something could go at any time. Same with the body of a 90+ year old.

Ooh! I think i

Sorry didn't finish typing!

Ooh! I think I've changed my mind from wanting 'old age' on my death certificate, to wanting 'grand old age'! That sounds much better and implies I've reached a grand age! In my family both parents are dead already :( (died 63 and 75) so I don't think I have grand old age genes, but you never know :)

There will be a cause but they don't know it because they didn't do an autopsy. I assume she had been fading for a while, and given her age, it seemed unnecessary to investigate.

My grandmother’s death certificate says “old age” - she was 96.

She was frail. Had lots of falls the preceding months, was sleeping more, starting to go blind, and we suspect very early stages of dementia, but no diagnosis, so would have had to have a post-mortem to find any other cause.

She had been her normal self when I saw her 2 days before her death, so although at her age not entirely unexpected, it was still a shock when she went so quickly.

OP, you and others on the thread should seek out Dr Kathryn Mannix's writing (inclulding on Twitter) or the podcast interviews she's done. She writes about dying, including dying in old age, and makes it all beautifully clear.

Thank you. I'll take a look

*They are protecting her privacy, you don’t die of old age, you die of something else , there is always a cause, but old age can hasten it or leave you unable to fight it. But old age is never the primary cause and it’s a rare situation it’s permitted, a 105 year old would be an exception;

she also didn’t go suddenly. They basically reported she was gravely Ill a few hours before they announced she was dead. So it was something else and they aren’t saying.

I don’t quite think it’s ok either, but it may have been her wish, especially if she’d been suffering from cancer or something. They did the same with Philip. And we know he didn’t just die of old age. The fact it’s on both certificates makes me think it was the queens wish*

"so it was something else and they aren't saying"

ofgs. It was sudden . Half of her children did don't get to her death bed.

They did the same with Philip. And we know he didn’t just die of old age.

Nothing to do with two old people of nearly 100 years s old.

"They basically reported she was gravely Ill a few hours before they announced she was dead. So it was something else and they aren’t saying"

No there isn't. As said, your oxygen levels drop (and they could have just given her oxygen so that the family could get there), your heart rate slows, your kidney function slows right down, sometimes to the point of failing. It's always tough to manage when the elderly person had a DNR/intervene in place that the family didn't agree with. When I worked in various social care roles, we'd have people in for'TLC' , if meant that they were anywhere between 24 hours to three days from death. There's a point of no return with organs and it was frustrating when you'd get neighbours trying to tell family that their Mum etc would pull through. In one of our local hospitals we have a whole floor dedicated to Gerontology, as we know more, these diagnosis are allowed.

My DM died of old age.
I think in the end your organs shut down (fail) and you die.
Surely no one wants various post mortems of all their body parts to see what went first/ or were there cancers present or not.
I read that when a number of deceased ladies bodies were examined in Scandinavia for scientific research they found cancers present in about half but they had not affected their well being.

My grandad used to say to me when I was a kid, when I asked what someone older had died of "Ran out of breath."

As we age our replicate and each time they do cells sustain damage and die off, this is why our skin, hair and fat level change and is also what can cause cancer and dementia (although not everyone gets these) theres only so much weakening of the cells that can be sustained before they completely fail and theres only so much cellular failure the body can take before it fails.

You cant track, count and note these cells failing, they are everywhere failing all the time but in the absense of any notable cause of death then death is 'old age' its simply the effect of time on the basic building blocks of the body.

Thanks mam0918. Makes sense.

(Just curious, because I have a bit too many fat cells!! As we get older, do the changes in fat mean we lose a bit (or gain some)? Fat loss could be one perk of old age for me 🤞🤞)

Yes there was a panic many years ago in america as modern 'MOT' health testing started showing over 60% of the tested population had cancer, further research showed it was A symptomatic and most people are simply born with non fatal cancer that will likely never effect them in any noticable way and needs no treatment.

If you look hard enough for things you will likely find them but that doesn't equal cause of death.

Wow! I had no idea about this type of cancer and how prevalent it is

My elderly DM died in a similar way.
she went to sleep, and didn’t wake up. Gradually her systems shut down and she died very peacefully.
i was abroad and didn’t find out until after she had died. I am glad that Charles and Anne were with HMQ.

Metabolism is high in children normal so they are usually quite slim and them slows more as we age so you gain 'more' swelling of the fat cells which is what makes us 'jiggly' (usually around age 30-60) then as time goes on the cells walls thin and often 'pop' and are then filtered out by the kidneys and fat cells don't regenerate after bursting which is why most elderly people are very skinny.

Yes I’ e read that a surprisingly large percentage of old men die with, but not of, prostate cancer.

my dad had fraility of old age on his death certificate this year basically his heart was worn out so his kidneys were worn out and his lungs wore out and he also went from being out and about though frail to being dead in a week he slowly slipped away he was up and dressed in a chair until last 72 hours in a hospital bed for 48 hurs and mostly asleep for last 24 hours we knew he was dying the nurse said less than 24 hours it was 2 hours he just stopped breathing ultimately everyone dies becauses their heart stops beating and the lungs stop
gradually your body wears out in the absence of anything else it has just worn out
all Scottish death certificates have several lines for causes they are not necessarily all used the fact that they are not all used means nothing sinister

my MIL had 3 reasons dementia heart failure and old age I can't remember the order

Both my grandmas died in their early 100s. Both basically stopped eating and drinking so their bodies gave up. Both were lucky to be in their own homes still with round the clock care within the last weeks, and one of us visiting two to three times a day. Both were very able and mentally aware up until this time, with no underlying major health conditions, and had been seen recently by their GP, so they both have ‘old age’ as cause of death. They just decided it was time. Their deaths were 5 years apart in different parts of the country. I’ve no issue with The Queen having old age as cause of death.

according to science direct prostrate cancer is detected incidentally in over 50% of men over 90, and in 21% of men in all ages groups at autoposy however although prostrate cancer is responsible for 14% of cancer deaths in men this is still less than 1% of all deaths

Thank you. I didn't know that