Find solution
What was the medical cause of Jesus's death?

Under what circumstances is the cause of death not mentioned in the obituary?

  • A teaching assistant at the university I attend passed away this past week. :( I found his obituary in the local paper a few days back but it just says he died "tragically" and doesn't provide us with a specific cause of death. The reason why I'm so curious is that there were some suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. Anyway, why would the cause of death not be listed?

  • Answer:

    The cause of death is usually not mentioned in the obituary as it is a family announcement informing family and firends about the death and funeral arrangements and not a newpaper article to inform the public about some newsworthy item. The family will not want to overshadow the memory of their loved one and their final farewells with gory details about the circumstances of the death, that would be inappropriate. The obituary might say "after a long illness" or "tragically", in the latter case the cause of death is sudden, unexpected and not as a result of natural causes (it could be an accident, murder or suicide). The gory details are reseved for newspaper articles and even they usually draw the line at suicide using the euphemism of "foul play is not suspected".

Helen at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

In the past they usually put the cause of death. However, in our own newspapers they haven't put the cause of death in years. One thing the people who are usually family and friends will know the cause of death and for others it would be just for idle curiosity. In other words they view it as not everyone's business.

Shirley T

Lots of reasons. The basic idea is not to speak ill of the dead, and not to cause the surviving family MORE grief. Possibilities: He rented a woman, whose pimp decided to roll hiim to double the take, hit him on the head a little to hard. He was so drunk that when he fell and hit his head, he couldn't get up to call 911 and bled to death. Drug deal gone bad. Auto accident 100 yards from the "We Don't Tell" Motel, woman in the car with him had great legs but wasn't his wife. Suicide. AIDS. Being gay is OK, but - wear a condom, every time. Doing 115 in a 55 mph zone, blood alcohol level 0.34, a new state record; normally people pass out at 0.25 or so.

Ted Pack

That is up to the family. I search obits on a regular (daily) basis and MANY times...most time in fact, I don't see a cause of death. The ones that really used to get to my father were the ones that stated some illness and listed the age as VERY high, like 98 or 102 years. My father always just shook his head and said, "Old AGE!"

no

The family probably didn't want it listed for privacy reasons.

John A.

suicide

Em

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.