Dying of old age?

[Graham47]

Is that possible I ask myself, as somebody else did in the comments section of this article.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/oct/24/how-people-died-21st-century?commentpage=1

How can you die of old age? That's a bit like saying "died from getting lost" surely. At the end of the day (pun intended) you have to die of something specific and 'old age' is not one of them I would suggest.

I had a sister who died of a broken heart, several times. 

[Marmalady]

i would regard it as they died at an elderly age with no other specific cause

So not illness, infection, accident etc --just upped n died

how else would you describe that sort of death?

[stanmapstone]

Senectus=Old Age. The use of the term old age or any of its euphemisms does not indicate that
the attending doctor did not know the cause of death. Rather he (or she) was being honest.

Stan

[LizzieW]

So not illness, infection, accident etc --just upped n died
how else would you describe that sort of death?

Worn out 

[trish58]

I lost my beautiful Mum on the 9th Oct, she would have been 94 next month. Her cause of death was "Due to old age" I was looking after her at home, and this is where she passed away,she had no illness what so ever, she was just worn out. Our family GP visited our home 3 days prior to her passing. there was no medical intervention required, she just wanted to go to sleep (her own words) and this is what she did with her lovng family around her.
So yes you can die from old age.

Trish

[kooky]

When my mother died in 2003, the cause of death on the certificate was just "Old age".
She was 90 and not on any medication. She had just had enough!
Kooky

[LizzieW]

My mum, who to be fair did have heart problems as well as COPD, used to say she'd had enough when she was about 94/5 and my daughter couldn't believe anyone would think that and want to die.  I had to remind her that her gran was 50 years older than she was and that my grandfather had already died.

[Graham47]

According to NHS guidelines, old age should not be given as the only cause of death unless a more specific cause of death cannot be given and the deceased was aged 70 and over. 

Part 1, 6.7

http://www.uhs.nhs.uk/media/suhtideal/doctors/medicalpersonnelinduction/yourinductionday/medicalcertificateofcauseofdeath-notesfordoctors.pdf

So it would seem that the doctor can indeed write "died of old age" but, he or she has to record the underlying cause and as said above, the deceased was aged 70 and over.

[LizzieW]

Graham - The cause of my parent's deaths were not given as old age, as they were both suffering from health problems, however quite a few of my ancestors died of old age or senile decay at anything from age 65 onwards - many of them not certified by a doc.