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Sometimes it is just a matter of medical definition. When a physician signs a death certificate, he is usually asked to identify the immediate causes and the predisposing causes. Parkinson's Disease itself is not usually the IMMEDIATE cause of death, but it certainly can set the stage up for fatal complications to arise. These complications - such as pneumonia, aspiration, urinary infection and sepsis, malnutrition, falls with fatal complications, complications of surgery, are all related to or caused by Parkinson's Disease. But, medically speaking, it is the complications which are the IMMEDIATE cause of death, with Parkinson's Disease as the PREDISPOSING CAUSE for these complications. Of course, one could argue that Parkinson's Disease is the cause, since the complications would not arise were it not for the presence of PD. It is merely a matter of semantics, definition, and usage in the medical community. That is why, medically speaking, one distinguishes between PREDISPOSING CAUSES and IMMEDIATE CAUSES. As an example which does not involve PD. A healthy individual suffers an injury in an auto accident, which, over the next few days leads to an infected wound, sepsis, circulation collapse, and death. The injury and the wound, by themselves, would not have been fatal were it not for the infection and shock. A properly filled death certificate would list the immediate cause of death as shock and sepsis. The predisposing cause is the injury from the accident. Of course, to the layperson not involved in these technicalities, it was the accident which caused the death. I hope that clarifies why Parkinson's Disease is seldom listed as the immediate cause of death, and why statistics from death certificates are unlikely to tell the whole story. Jorge Romero ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Ann Coen" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 3:27 PM Subject: Killing PD > Getting back to whether or not PD kills you, or if the complications from > PD is the culprit. I suggest we ask Dr. Fink. > He has "set me straight" on several issues. Also, Dr. Jorge might have a > thought or two. If I'm wrong, I will admit and apologize to everyone. > It wouldn't be the first time. Best to all. Jo Ann ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn