Publishing the Cause of Death

[HenryDavid]

Originally Posted by silibran

. Although most people understand the code for suicide is “died suddenly.”

I never associated that code to suicide, never saw those words in an obituary.

Reason for death is none of your business.

[Lodestar]

I admire a well-written and honest obituary and think cause of death being included can perhaps influence some readers. It can be a public service from those families who are generous enough to want to offer that to the public.

It could also be one way a family could turn what they thought of as a wasted life into something useful.

It does seem to indicate a certain amount of mental health on their part that they aren't keeping a secret because they feel responsible. Let's face it, among a certain number of readers, they are opening themselves up to public blame and shame.

But I'd like to see the government give us some room in our choices for what we want to make public. Not every one is ready for or wants sharing their family struggles with the world. I think that should be respected.

[The Very Man Himself]

Originally Posted by tijlover

I'll be 71 in April, and with COPD, I don't expect to live much longer and I don't want my life lengthened for no reason at all and I fully plan to commit suicide one day and I want it included in my obituary and the reasons why.

I used to enjoy reading the obituaries and when I'd come across the younger ones dying, like in their 20's/30's/teens (at a high school my niece went to there were 5 teen suicides when she was in that school), you start making assumptions. I don't think committing suicide is anything shameful, even to the parents, and I never read an obituary mentioning suicide, except one time the obituary was perhaps written by his mother: My son Joey finally gave up the struggle to overcome his drug addiction at 32YO. What a rarity in the obituary columns!

I would rather do without prolonged discomfort, so I think I'm in the same camp as you. I'm a believer in the Death with Dignity movement.
https://www.deathwithdignity.org/

[Rachel NewYork]

Originally Posted by The Very Man Himself

I would rather do without prolonged discomfort, so I think I'm in the same camp as you. I'm a believer in the Death with Dignity movement.
https://www.deathwithdignity.org/

So am I. Truthfully, I think that we are kinder to our pets than we are to each other, in this matter.

[Francois]

Originally Posted by thinkalot

I have felt strongly about this since the early 80's [sic] and AIDS. Now with the pandemic I still think the cause of death should be published.

Obituaries aren't even "required", and when they are, they cost a pretty penny. You now want to make grieving families pay even MORE to add extra verbiage (obituaries charge per line) just so the neighborhood busybody can get to gossiping about how somebody died?

Hardly anybody even reads obituaries anymore, anyway. In the 1980s, people with AIDS faced a level of ostracism you can't even fathom--often fired, evicted, disowned by blood families, never mind harassment almost every time they were in public. And this was in the more "liberal" cities.

You are free to order someone's death certificate if yo are that curious about how someone died; almost anybody's can be retrieved for about $10. But obituaries, other than the simple listing of name, date, age, and city, are VOLUNTARY and something placed by the family as a remembrance. They cost $$$ the family often can barely afford, on top of other funeral expenses. So such a "requirement" would just result in even fewer paid obituaries than there are now.

And do you REALLY want to know if your neighbor died by shotgun when his wife caught him with another woman?