What if you finally located a death certificate online, or received one that you’d ordered, only to find out the cause of death has been redacted (obscured)?
While it isn’t “necessary”
that we know the cause of death for all of our ancestors, it’s certainly a
piece of the person’s life that we’d like to have.
Here’s one that I located
online for the 2nd husband of my maternal Great Grandaunt, Edna Mabel
Bowden. The man’s name is Elmer Wilbur
Cunningham.
You can click on the image to enlarge it
A couple of other things
jumped out at me. There was an autopsy
performed and the onset of whatever killed this man had only just happened. The date of death and the onset of the cause
of death are the same. He was only 54
yrs. old so this leads me to believe his death was sudden, which usually
precipitates an autopsy.
IS THERE ANY WAY FOR ME
TO ASCERTAIN WHAT CAUSED HIS DEATH?
YES, there is. It’s called an ICD code which stands for International
Classification of Diseases. Note - these codes do not appear on all death certificates.
Here are a couple of
links I found that explain what code 94a stands for:
· Exploring
ICD codes on death certificates
· International List of Causes of
Death, Revision 5 (1938)
According to the lists I
located, code 94a is defined as Diseases of the Coronary Arteries.
Generally we think of
coronary artery disease as something that goes on for some time. Why would it have been a sudden death, as I
believe it to be?
Well, there could be a
secondary cause of death listed, such as stroke, which would, of course have
been sudden. I can’t see behind the
redacted area, therefore I cannot determine if there is a secondary cause
listed.
Will I find out more
about this death? Probably not. This man was married to my grandaunt for only
3 years and they had no children together.
I go down rabbit holes, like everyone else, but this is not one I will
chase.
Did you know about ICD
codes before reading this?
If not, will you be
looking for them now?
If you have used these
codes to find information, I’d love to hear about it.
If you are related to or connected to anyone in this blog post,
please get in touch. Let’s exchange
information.
Happy hunting,
Copyright © 2010-2022 Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION
Admitted to the VA Hospital on 2 May 1946, died 11 May 1946 in the VA Hospital. DOB of 1891 makes him a prime candidate for WW1, too old to have been drafted in WW2. VA Master index on Ancestry shows a discharge date of 18 Dec 1918. US Army Adjutant General records on Ancestry show an induction (draft) date of 24 May 1918 in Chicago, IL. Served with 4th Company, 1st Provisional Regiment, 31st Division til 18 June 1918, Company C 106th Engineers til 22 Aug 1918, 7th Company Development Battalion til 18 Dec 1918, discharged as a Corporal at Camp Wheeler, GA. Coronary artery disease is associated with a heart attack and based upon the time elapsed I would think there were at least two attacks. My grandfather had the same problem and almost the same time elapsed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Bob. I always appreciate reader input. And, don't you know that I had missed his admitted date vs his death date. Sometimes we get so focused on one thing, we miss others. In this case, for me, it was the ICD code.
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