Cause of death - Brain injuries

I have just received a death certificate from 1953 in NSW for a 73 yr old male -the medical attendant was a Coroner at an Inquest held at a Court House. The cause of death was "Brain injuries accidentally received by a fall in the Hospital Ward". At the time there were eleven living children now only the two youngest. I am surprised that I have never heard this mentioned. I don't want to open a can of worms with the two elderly children who are not well. I am really surprised that there is no other medical information on the death cert, eg why he was in hospital? Am I likely to be able to get access to a Coroner's Report from 1953 with two surviving siblings? (He was OH gf)

[Olde Crone]

Julie

I can't help with your specific query, but in the UK, the cause of death is just that - the thing which caused the death. It is not required to mention any other medical condition at the time of death if it didn't contribute to the death. for example, your chap might have been in hospital to have his appendix out. This did not cause his death, so is irrelevant on a death cert.

OC

On NSW Death Certificates the Cause of death is usually quite involved OC. It not only lists illness, it list how long. For his wife it said: Cause of death 1a Coronary occlusion. b. arterio sclerosis. Duration of last illness - 2a 1/4 hour b. 10 years. If you look at my gfather Smith his medical conditions are acute and long term. I haven't any experience with inquest requests and I have a feeling that it will probably only be available to his living children. I can't find anything in the newspapers

[Anstey Nomad]

Julie

As OC says, an English death cert will show the cause of death. In Mr Nomad's case it might say, for example, 'injuries sustained in attack by wife' with no mention of his hypertension, his fungal toenail, his insomnia or any other medical condition he might happen to have.

Equally, you can see several items in the cause of death section which should read (a) because of (b) because of (c), so my Dad's says (a) something that escapes me at this particular minute to do with his lungs (b) chronic obstructive airways disease (c) hypertension, showing that whatever else was going on, the high blood pressure was the root of the problem.

As OC says, it looks as if the fall killed your chap, making anything else that was going on irrelevant.

AN

[Merry]

Ours often have lengths of time too, but as OC says if the condition didn't have any relevence to the cause of death then it doesn't get a mention. If a seperate condition accelerated the death then it will be included. eg if your chap fell out of bed because he had dementia then that dementia might get a mention, but if he died during his appendix operation (for instance) and happened to have dementia as well then the dementia wouldn't be included on the death cert.

Obviously, though there are rules there is also opinions of Drs etc to bring in to the equation!!

Over here the chances of getting inquest info would be virtually nil, but I don't know the rules where you are!

[Mary from Italy]

One of the next of kin may be able to get information from the hospital authorities; I've been able to obtain mental hospital files for relatives in NSW because I was the nearest surviving relative.

The system I used only seems to apply to psychiatric records, though.

I can't find much online about non-psychiatric records, but it looks as though you have to apply direct to the individual hospital.

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/psychaccess/index.html

[marquette]

When my grandmother died, her COD was listed as Arterio-sclerosis, but my granddad and mum pushed the doctor to include Huntingtons disease as a secondary cause. She suffered from HD for over 10 years and the physical problems it caused (such as inability to exercise and eat properly) contributed to early death. But otherwise, HD has rarely been listed on death certificates, making it really hard to trace.

Di

[Olde Crone]

Di

Same here in England, partly because it is rarely the DIRECT cause of death and partly because doctors are reluctant to put down in writing a disease which has such terrible consequences, is hereditary and incurable.

You rarely see syphilis as a cause of death either, although there is a euphemism of GPI on the death cert - this was to spare the feelings of relatives, who may not have known their relative was afflicted with an infectious and terminal disease.

OC

Thanks everyone for your input.
Poor Mr. Nomad We aren't accessories before the fact I hope
How far sighted of your mother Di. I'm sure that wasn't easy to do.
One of the reasons why I'm interested is because Pete had cancer and now his sister also has it. So far I have not found a direct ancestor of theirs with cancer, I know it often isn't genetic.

[Kit]

Julie our certs are like UK ones in that the cause of death is all that goes on a cert. However I think ours have a bit more detail. So if your man was in hospital and that reason did not kill him then it wouldn't get mentioned.

So if he had cancer and was in hospital for treatment but fell on a slippery floor and died the cancer would not be mentioned as it didn't actually cause his death. If the cancer contributed to the death then it should have been mentioned.