Well....this topic came up today and I spent 45 minutes reading up on this.
It used to be simple when you passed on (died).....the coroner would come over and pick up the body. He'd look at your medical records, and eventually determine the ONE and only reason for your death.
Life was simple in those days, and you'd only die from one single thing.
So, we've reached the stage today.....where coroner is now asking stupid questions, and science gets into the middle of this.....then comorbidity occurs. This means that two conditions occurred in the final stages of your life, and you died from two, or three, or even four different things happening.
It's even possible that you were mentally crazy, and consuming a vast amount of drug-laced jelly beans, and this triggered you to do something crazy (like jumping off a cliff), and you didn't just die from the impact of the ground....but also from the illegal drugs.
This comes up...because of Covid-19. You see....a lot of unhealthy folks have various conditions going on, and have a weakened immune system. So when Covid-19 comes along....it craps up the body, and when you pass.....you didn't just die of the virus, but from secondary conditions as well.
Admitting comorbidity exists? Some folks, with an agenda....hate the idea of admitting that you could die from two things....rather than one thing.
All of this, for a southerner, is a hard thing to get over. We usually had a six-paragraph story to explain how Uncle Marcel passed on, after he was stomped upon by a 1,500 pound bull in the barn. However, under this comorbidity system, we'd have to admit that Uncle Marcel had a bad leg from a Vietnam War situation, and could never run that fast....so the bull didn't just kill him....the leg slowed him down enough for the bull to accomplish his part of the act. So you'd have to tell this additional four paragraph story over the war injury as well.
