Death certificates

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Does dementia get listed onto a death certificate?

I think my mother's mother might have had dementia but it wasn't talked about. I asked my mother a few months ago and she said she did have dementia but it was only mild because she never forgot. (It shows my mother knows nothing about dementia. Long term memory can remain intact and then there's other types of dementia where memory is not an issue).

If that's true it's a red flag for me towards a behavioural type of dementia with my grandmother.

I am faced with behavioural and mood stuff with my mother.

I think if dementia is written on a death certificate, and if it's on my grandmothers death certificate, I think it might help strengthen things for me in relation to getting a diagnosis.

I'm thinking about applying for my grandmothers death certificate to see what's on it and if dementia is on it.

It might be listed.

But depending when she died, what of, and whether she was actually diagnosed it might not be. Even if it is, it may not specify the type.

Given all those uncertainties, I doubt it would be taken into account in making a diagnosis.

I think if dementia is written on a death certificate, and if it's on my grandmothers death certificate, I think it might help strengthen things for me in relation to getting a diagnosis

It won’t.

Diagnosis will be via a memory test and brain scan. Parental history will not be taken into account.

Death certificates can have several causes of death on them (main and contributory factors) so you might find dementia on there, but lots of people with dementia actually die of other things (all the usual things that elderly people can die of: pneumonia, stroke, heart attacks etc). If dementia is not on the death certificate, it doesn't mean she didn't have it.

Most forms of dementia are not directly hereditary anyway, so it probably wouldn't be seen as relevant to getting a diagnosis for your mother. That will depend entirely on her own symptoms of cognitive decline.

Your mother will be assessed as she is, doesn't matter about your grandmothers health.

My dad had dementia and Parkinson’s for 12 years before his death. Neither were mentioned on his death certificate as he died from a infection

MIL's death certificate says that she died of:

(1) Dementia
(2) COPD (no-one had ever told her, or us, she had this. Lifelong non smoker)
(3) Pneumonia

It seems as if everyone's experiences of death certificates and what's stated on them is different.

I would love to see my grandmothers death certificate to see what is on it.

There's a type of dementia that is known as FTD. There's two types of that dementia.

• a speech variant that Bruce Willis has
• a behavioural and mood

I read a piece online that the behavioural variant of FTD is more common to run in families. That there's a genetic component to the condition. I would nearly put money on this now about my mother.

I'm just so torn because there's a small cost involved when applying for a death certificate.

Death certificates list the cause(s) of death and any contributory factors, so unless dementia directly contributed to the death, I doubt it would be on there.

You can get a copy of your GM death certificate from the GRO. (My late Mums death certificate had Leukemia with Dementia complications and Community Pneumonia)

It's about £12 to get a death certificate.

When my dm died the hospital contacted me before the death certificate was issued to explain what would be written under cause of death and asked if I wanted them to go through it with me.

I don't know who was responsible for that for my grandmother. Likely an uncle of mine. Possibly an aunt too who is a nurse. Now retired.

Doctor here. You can die from dementia, so it can be listed as a primary/sole cause of death. It’s ‘brain failure’ in the same way you can get heart or liver failure. However I would say that it’s only been over the last 10 years or so that people have really used it in this way. Previously it would often be ‘bronchopneumonia’ listed - otherwise known as ‘old man’s friend’, because doctors were less good at recognising when someone was deteriorating from dementia or frailty of old age, and instead assumed they had an infection.

IIRC my mother’s said dementia and sepsis. She was 97 and had had dementia for around 15 years.

I am so torn what to do.

My grandmother died in 2010. She was in a nursing home for a few years but then something happened and she had to go to hospital. My mother can't tell me much. My mother did say she had dementia but she never forgot and she was acting bad. It was limited words from my mother.

I am witnessing behavioural and mood stuff with my mother and I would lean in towards dementia as a possibility and theres FTD behavioural variety. It's just a huge red flag for me how there's similarities.

My mother has an estranged brother and I googled his name recently and he was in court in 2018 for petty stealing is what the judge said although a different fancier word was used but it meant petting stealing where the person who took it had no use for the item.

I swear to god, there is something running in their family and I am thinking of behavioural FTD. I was thinking this for many many many months.

It's only recently something came up on a Google search for me that said the behavioural variety of FTD can run in families.
This is stomach churning for me. I need to know.

My aunt is the best person to talk to about this but I debated with myself for a long time wheather or not to chat with her but I don't want my suspicions about my own mother talked about within the family in case my mother hears it back so I am keeping it to myself.

My aunt has picked up on something from my mother and has limited contacted with her now for the past two years. It's gut wrenching because I am the only one thinking on the lines of dementia with my mother.

I am torn weather or not to pay for a death certificate for my grandmother.

It won't help. It's a distraction from the real problem.

Let it go and focus on what would be useful now - a diagnosis for your mother. Which will involve referrals a memory clinic and tests. You can tell them there's a family history of suspected dementia - that will do exactly the same job as getting death certificates.

Not in my experience

I’m not sure how it will help in your current situation. However, dementia can be listed on a death certificate as it was included as one of four items on my DMs death certificate, including ‘frailty’.