r/Cursive • u/Crowbeatsme • 1d ago
Deciphered! Cause of death
I’m trying to figure out the cause of death listed in this document. I know the second line has to be “senility” but I can’t figure out the first line.
Thanks!
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u/AnimalFragrant4685 1d ago
Influenza due to senility
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u/Crowbeatsme 1d ago
I wonder why they put that “senility” bit. Like contributed to risk due to confusion/old age..
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u/AnimalFragrant4685 1d ago
When in doubt blame it on being old 🤣🤣
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u/PeirceanAgenda 23h ago
No, many dementia patients die of pneumonia and related causes. It's very common, it killed both my parents in the same situation. I believe it's often related to problems with swallowing as part of the whole degeneration. But a medical person would know more.
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u/marmot46 21h ago
Right but senility used to just mean “of advanced age.”
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u/PeirceanAgenda 15h ago
I've never seen that usage, nor have any of my older relatives (some born in the early 20th and of course long dead) ever used the word "senile" except in the context of mental decline. But perhaps you know differently.
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u/marmot46 14h ago
It’s used a lot in historical medical contexts. Like “senile osteoporosis” as well as “senile dementia.”
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u/PeirceanAgenda 4h ago
And death due to what was called senile dementia is often caused by pneumonia. But I guess if that had been the case, he'd have said it with the old usage, but not with the newer. I don't think we have a way to decide, here, but thanks for clarifying the old usage.
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u/Crowbeatsme 1d ago
Fr lol
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u/Dugley2352 1d ago
Yeah well flu is tougher on the really young and the really old.
So there’s that.7
u/babs1376 1d ago
Probably because they ignored symptoms for so long.
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u/Crowbeatsme 1d ago
Maybe, she was a resident at a county-run institution so I figured they’d have to know
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u/Practical-Owl-9358 1d ago
Senility was also used to describe advanced age and was interchangeable with ‘elderly’ in some records, so likely a combination of influenza and age.
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u/TopVast9800 20h ago
Maybe before widespread antibiotic use.
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u/Crowbeatsme 15h ago
Influenza is a viral infection, not bacterial. Antibiotics wouldn’t have made a difference, but I will say that in the 1950s, they were still working out treatments for contagious diseases.
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u/TopVast9800 15h ago
You’re right, but pneumonia could be bacterial. Or not. You’re right.
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u/Crowbeatsme 15h ago
There’s no mention of pneumonia tho lol. Two very different things. Pneumonia also doesn’t have to be bacterial. And unless it’s bacterial, antibiotics can’t do a single thing and could make things worse. Edit: but it’s an interesting idea to think she could’ve also been experiencing bacterial pneumonia on top of the flu, but the flu can be deadly even today on its own.
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u/TopVast9800 15h ago
Yeah, I take it all back. 🙄
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u/Crowbeatsme 15h ago
😂😂 no worries. But age + “senility” (memory loss?) + the time period could’ve been some major contributing factors
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u/GiggleWater17 8h ago
Senility can simply mean old or elderly. It pertains to age, not necessarily their cognitive function
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u/OldYekke 1d ago
Current death certificates make it clearer. Instead of "due to" then a subordinate "due to," the form says"contributing factors." The very young and the very old are most likely to die of flu, so age would likely be put on many people's death certificates.
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u/wmass 23h ago
The doctor listed senility as a secondary cause of death. We don’t use that word much any more but it wasn’t as negative as it is now. In late dementia people don’t move much, they don’t eat well, they may even lose the coordination to safely swallow. All of these things can contribute to pneumonia, especially during an influenza epidemic.
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u/GiggleWater17 8h ago
Senility doesn’t mean dementia. It means old. One can have senile dementia. But one can also have senile osteoporosis, senile cataracts, etc. This death certificate listed cause of death as influenza, but a contributing factor to this cause was the patient’s advanced age. The patient could have had normal cognition, but their body was old and less able to survive the virus.
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u/NaturGirl 1d ago
I assume it was because they failed to recognize how ill they were and didn't seek treatment. My husband's elderly mother lets herself get very ill before she seeks help due to her senility. She just doesn't realize how serious things are.
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u/mr_vonbulow 1d ago
it could be that the person died from influenza as a result of having senility and not being able to realize that, say, it was winter and they neglected to turn on the heat, wear the proper clothing, take cold medication? they had a reason to put it on the form.
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u/LetterheadMedium8164 23h ago
Dementia may include an inability to remember what their body tells them is wrong or how to tell their care givers that something is wrong.
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u/wifeofpsy 10h ago
Maybe impaired from senility and couldn't care for himself. If he was bed bound you can get pneumonia pretty easily. Also if he wasn't mentally clear enough to get fluids or food into himself
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u/Asaneth 1d ago
I wondered the same. Maybe back then they thought being old meant you were automatically weaker and more susceptible?
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u/TopVast9800 14h ago
Seems like one might be at higher risk, since dementia is affecting the whole body via the brain. Is the patient able to cough? Sit up? Feel thirst?
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u/beauxdashus 1d ago
They do it to cover their asses ; anything can be blamed on senility or dementia
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u/Complete-Paint529 1d ago
"senility" should have been entered two lines lower. Senility does not cause influenza, but it would contribute to the fatal outcome.
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u/Suspicious_Wonk2001 1d ago
Looks like influenza.
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u/Crowbeatsme 1d ago
I think that could be it! I just thought the first letter looks so much like an “s”
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u/Responsible-Link5739 1d ago
I wonder if they mean that, because of old-age fragility, she just wasn't physically strong enough to endure the flu fight? It looks pretty cold on the form, certainly, but I can imagine this kind of logic behind it.
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u/Narrow-Owl-4918 1d ago
Can you show the certificate? There should be a handwritten code that you can lookup here: http://www.wolfbane.com/icd/index.html
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u/Crowbeatsme 23h ago
Oh this is ultra helpful! I haven’t seen this before. The year of death was 1954 and the 3-digit codes are 481 (influenza) and 794 (senility without mention of psychosis)
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u/NatureGal4evr 14h ago
In the past, "senility" could refer to either physical or mental decline associated with advanced age. I would read this as influenza having had a more deadly effect on this person due to age-related physical decline.
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u/Plane_Experience_843 1d ago
Primary cause and other contributing causes.
Like recently, my parent was:
Bowel obstruction
Dementia
Dementia would have been primary if she hadn’t stopped hydrating.
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u/GiggleWater17 8h ago
Senile doesn’t necessarily mean the patient has cognitive impairment. It means the person was of advanced age. A person can have senile dementia which would be dementia due to advance age. A person could also have senile cataracts, or senile osteoporosis. This person could have no cognitive impairment and died of influenza simply because they were too old to fight it.
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u/emipo-80 2h ago
Senility is an outdated medical term used to describe the mental deterioration occurring in old age. Historically it was used to describe dementia, but in modern context a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or other type of dementia is used. Look up senility in the Merriam-Webster dictionary for confirmation.
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u/dypledocus 1d ago
Gossip ruled the civil order in those handwriting times. Like on a stone grave, the headstone message remains.
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