What Exactly Does It Mean To Die Of 'Natural Causes'?
(CBS4) - When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died this weekend at age 79, legal authorities in Texas announced that he died of "natural causes." This official terminology was used by a local Justice of the Peace, who determined the cause of death as "natural" by phone, without actually seeing or examining his body.
The Justice of the Peace, however, did interview people on the scene, as well as talk to Justice Scalia's personal physician to gather details about the state of the Scalia's recent health.
This is not unusual.
"Natural Causes" is a very broad term that makes up one of five legal causes of death. The other four include: 2-homicide; 3- suicide; 4- accident; or 5- undetermined. In other words, "natural causes" includes a very wide range of conditions that are specifically not caused by a foreign object, foreign substance or injury.
"Natural causes," in fact , make up 92.5% of the causes of all deaths in the United States, according to the CDC. It can include heart attack, cancer, pneumonia, Alzheimer's or, for that matter, any disease process. Interestingly, "old age" is not considered a legal cause of death that can be entered onto a death certificate—instead, a specific reason for something that happened at an older age must be used.
Early reports said Justice Scalia died in his sleep of a heart attack; however this was not confirmed or announced by the Justice of the Peace, or by a coroner. This is a specific cause that could only be determined by an autopsy. But since the highest legal authority in the local area determined that the death appeared non-suspicious, an autopsy was not deemed to be necessary, and the death was declared of "natural causes," which might include heart attack, and a variety of other diseases.
Dr. Dave Hnida is CBS4's Medical Editor. He blogs about the latest studies and trends in the health world. Read his latest blog entries, check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @drdavehnida
