Finding the Cause of Death
Last week, I left you with a question about a hypothetical situation: What if my grandmother’s bedsores had become infected to the degree that it spread throughout her body; she still had congestive heart failure but didn’t have pulmonary effusion at that time. What would be the primary cause of death?
With so many health experts and influencers that get a lot of attention in social media, causes of death appear to be misunderstood. Let’s cover it as simply as I can, based on the definitions from the CDC, WHO, and other agencies around the world.
- The primary cause of death is the situation or condition that started the chain of events resulting in death.
- The secondary cause(s) of death are any conditions that may have contributed to the death.
In the case of the hypothetical situation, the cause of death was the systemic infection from the bedsores. The congestive heart failure was a secondary cause of death. We can’t know for certain, but the infection probably took away the ability to fight back due to the weakened condition of the cardiovascular system.
I’ll give some examples of misinformation in Saturday’s Memo—which is May 10. Long time readers will understand the significance of that day.
What are you prepared to do today?
