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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: ansteynomad on Thursday 09 January 25 13:23 GMT (UK)
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I have the Death Certificate, which says:
Chronic Encephalitis
Lethargica
Septic Sores
Exhaustion
I can see that the Registrar has saved the family's embarrassment by giving a street address rather than simply saying he died in the Workhouse, but isn't encephalitis as we know it more an acute infection?
I wondered if the Registrar was also covering up that he actually died of syphilis.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance
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I'm sorry for this, but I think you are misinterpreting the information.
OK, I'm not medically qualified, but, having consulted Mr Google, I cannot see where your connection to Syphylis comes from. And I'm not sure about your assumption of the Workhouse comes from. I have a copy of a 1946 death certificate where the street address is given rather than the name of the hospital.
I also understand that workhouses were officially abolished, certainly in England, in 1930 - information taken from https://www.workhouses.org.uk/addresses/m.shtml.
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Thanks for your reply. I'm happy with the workhouse point.
As to the other, I was just curious. Quite happy to be wrong (I often am) but wanted to be clear if I could be.
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The registrar is required to record the cause of death exactly as given by the doctor certifying and cannot choose what to include or not or vary it in any way. So if there was any decision to hide the underlying diagnosis/cause it would be the doctor who chose to do that.
The order of the conditions stated on the certificate is also important, and especially if they are numbered ( Ia, Ib II etc. )
The use of the street address instead of the term "workhouse" was the result of a direction given by the Registrar General in 1904.
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Is encephalitis lethargica a possibility?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis_lethargica
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I am not medically qualified in any way -- but I too do not see where you are getting Syphilis from
1 Chronic Encephalitis -- Inflammation of the brain -- can be viral or bacterial (eg meningitis). Whilst encephalitis can be caused by syphilis, it is not automatically encephalitis = syphilis
2 Lethargica -- there is Encephalitis Lethargica or a type of sleeping sickness
3 Septic Sores -- possibly bed sores?
4 Exhaustion -- as a result of suffering all the above?
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I think that Erato's interpretation (post #4) seems very plausible and the link she gives there seems to cover the description on the death cert.
Given the column for cause of death is quite narrow, it might be meant to read:
Chronic Encephalitis Lethargica
Septic Sores
Exhaustion
When did he die?
Gadget
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He died in 1927.
Thanks everyone.
It looks like Encephalitis lethargica it is.
Another horrible condition I'd never heard of.
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The usual term for Syphilis was “ Paralysis of the Insane” .
Winston Churchill’s father died from it ,
Amongst many others ——-
Viktoria,
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The usual term for Syphilis was “ Paralysis of the Insane” .
Often abbreviated to GPI - General ....
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Someone I was researching, a well-connected naval officer, died in 1860 of "softening of the brain". I did wonder if this could be syphilis?
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Quite likely.
Yes I had forgotten the “ General” ,thanks .
Viktoria.
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A Suffolk ancestor died in March 1844 of "Mental derangement". I wonder if that was syphilis.
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A Suffolk ancestor died in March 1844 of "Mental derangement". I wonder if that was syphilis.
Although people in the 1840s generally had shorter lives, surely there was some simple dementia about ? There's plenty now, after all.
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My naval officer was only 49.
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My ancestor who died in 1844 was 53, so I guess it was some early onset dementia.
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The blanket prescribing of Statins has been quoted as a cause of Dementia and Alzheimers’ .
They strip out cholesterol sure, but are not selective and too little in the brain and ———.
This was in a Health Programme on T.V.
Michael Mosely I seem to remember.
That is my excuse anyway ::)
Viktoria,well I was yesterday.
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The blanket prescribing of Statins has been quoted as a cause of Dementia and Alzheimers’ .
Just the opposite. Research shows that statins reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by about 30% and vascular dementia by about 7%.
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https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/article/29/5/804/6454065 (https://academic.oup.com/eurjpc/article/29/5/804/6454065)
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That's a relief - I will carry on taking the pills!
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Thanks,it was some years ago when statins became somewhat suspect but the research quoted does negate the conclusions drawn from much earlier research
Thanks.Viktoria.
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I have the Death Certificate, which says:
Chronic Encephalitis
Lethargica
Septic Sores
Exhaustion
I can see that the Registrar has saved the family's embarrassment by giving a street address rather than simply saying he died in the Workhouse, but isn't encephalitis as we know it more an acute infection?
I wondered if the Registrar was also covering up that he actually died of syphilis.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance
Most Workhouses also had a hospital attached and there was no shame in going to a hospital. In earlier times many illnesses were nursed at home. By the 1930s/40s this was changing and many serious illnesses were nursed in hospitals and later still palliative care was given in separate buildings. Some Registrar's may have included Workhouse/Hospital