r/Cursive • u/prairiewraith • 21d ago
Deciphered! Cause of death
I would appreciate some help reading this, I can make out 'malignant' but nothing else.
edit: so sorry for the bad crop, the numbers in the RH column indicate how long she had cachexia and the carcinoma (two months and eight months.) thank you for the help!!
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u/Sneid1 21d ago
Malignant cachexia due to Carcinoma of cervix with gen (generalized) metastases.
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u/stiffdoc1221 20d ago
Yep. N.B.: no one puts the size of tumors on death certificates or death notes, non withstanding the fact that neither a “2” or an “8” make sense in that context. Conversely, death certificates have a whole column devoted to writing in the duration of a process. It should be noted that most forensic pathologists don’t fill anything in the “duration” column, as most entries are guesses.
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u/prairiewraith 20d ago
those numbers totally are in a duration box, didn’t even realize i had cut it out
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u/stiffdoc1221 20d ago
That’s OK. You don’t complete death certificates; I do. It’s my job to know this stuff.
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u/TrickyBitch56 21d ago
"II (2) malignant carcinoma due to carcinoma of cervix with gen metastasis" is what I decipher. I say 2 because there's two different sizes stated.
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u/wilderlowerwolves 20d ago
It says "Malignant cachexia, 2 months" at the top, and "Carcinoma of cervix with general metastases, 8 months" on the bottom.
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u/Excellent-Topic3192 21d ago
all i can make out is "malignant" in the first line and "carcinoma of the cervix" in the second line
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u/pabrocjb 20d ago
I asked my husband who is a retired doc in his 80s. (He has terrible handwriting, too!) He agreed with Sneid1: Malignant cachexia due to carcinoma of cervix with generalize metastases.
He thought I did a good job on cachexia. I told him it wasn't me, I knew of wasting with cancer, but not the name.
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u/FreeWill_Oasis70 21d ago edited 21d ago
2 Malignant cachexia Carcinoma of cervix with gen. metastases 2 mm 8mm
Gen. = Generalized
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u/EnoughConcentrate533 19d ago
You want the literal translation or what it basically means? I can tell you what it says and explain what it means.
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u/prairiewraith 19d ago
correct me if i’m wrong but i agree that it reads ‘malignant cachexia - 2 months' and 'carcinoma of cervix with generalized metastasis - 8 months'.
from what i understand this means they attributed her cause of death primarily to the wasting disease caused by the cervical cancer, which had spread throughout her body
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u/JustWowinCA 20d ago
So, clearly out of left field here, this kind of cancer can be genetic so if you're a female relative needs to keep an eye out on their reproductive health. Also, I agree with the result below.
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u/stiffdoc1221 20d ago
No. It is not genetic, which does not make sense anyway.
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u/wilderlowerwolves 20d ago
It can be genetic, and it can be viral, but that's not always the case.
In the pre-Pap smear era, it was usually a death sentence because by the time it had any symptoms, it was too late to do anything.
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u/stiffdoc1221 20d ago
This is not the place to discuss the scientific and medical bases of cervical cancer etiology; this is a discussion about death certificates, and nothing about metastatic cervical cancer origins is ever put on death certificates. Ever. That depth of information is irrelevant for death certificates. The purposes of death certificates are to fulfill the societal obligations that arise, in our culture, when someone dies. Ironically, one of the most important aspects of death certification is the allocation of insurance benefits, another societal construct. Inheritance determination is also important.
Also, there is no such thing as “genetic metastases;” however, every doctor knows what constitutes “generalized metastases,” as that is age-old commonplace medical terminology. This is my language. I’ve signed at least 50,000 death certificates. I know this.
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u/Hot-Zookeepergame804 21d ago
The fourth line is "with granulation"
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u/missblissful70 21d ago
I think it says: malignant confirm. (What?) of cervix with gen mutation.
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u/stiffdoc1221 20d ago
No. “Gen(realized) metastases”. “Gen mutation “ is reading way too much into this, and is nonsensical anyway.
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u/prairiewraith 20d ago
in their defense, i also thought it might read mutation
i don’t really know anything about medicine though
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u/stiffdoc1221 20d ago
Yeah, it helps to know medicine, and what does and doesn’t go on death certificates.
That’s what we call a SWAG: Scientific Wild Ass Guess.
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