Originally Posted by
Panicattacka
One thing the CV-19 outbreak has thrown into stark relief is how blurred the line is when it comes to distinguishing between those who 'died of COVID-19' and those who died of something else. You can see the "with" vs. "of" debate playing out right now in both the media, between governments, agencies and scientists.
Categorizing the causes of death is more messy than a lot of people like to believe. You hear statistics like how many died of heart disease, how many died of cancer, etc. In practice, it's not always easy to categorize any given death.
For a little perspective from my own experience: My grandad died a few years ago of kidney failure. He had three conditions that lead to this kidney failure, though: hypertension, diabetes, and a cancer called multiple myeloma. Even though his cancer appears to have been the factor that precipitated his needing dialysis, and even though his cancer treatments were ended just days before he went into the hospital for the final time, his death certificate suggests the kidney failure was due to hypertension and doesn't even mention the cancer. At the time, this made me wonder: when it isn't something obvious like a bodily trauma caused by a traffic accident or gunshot wound, etc., do we ever know for sure what exactly someone 'dies of'?