Brain Teasers
Death Cured?
My great-grandmother was exceptional from first to last. She was the first baby born in the state in 1851. She was almost the first centenarian in the family, but she died in 1950, one day before her 100th birthday.
The cause of her death was not unusual; thousands of people died of the same cause that year and also in previous years. Her death was exceptional because she was the last person ever to die from that cause in the United States.
What was the cause of death?
The cause of her death was not unusual; thousands of people died of the same cause that year and also in previous years. Her death was exceptional because she was the last person ever to die from that cause in the United States.
What was the cause of death?
Hint
Her age isn't important, but the date is. If she had lived just one more day, she wouldn't have died from that cause. No major disease was cured in 1951, but it would have been illegal to die from that cause.Answer
Old age.No American has died of old age since 1951. Old age was "cured" at a Public Health Conference on Records and Statistics. All state and federal agencies were ordered to adopt a standard list of 130 contributing and underlying causes of death. In 1951, the list deleted "old age" as a cause of death.
There is still some debate over whether old age is an appropriate cause of death. If someone dies peacefully in their sleep at age 95, one or several organs may have shut down, but isn't the underlying cause old age?
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Comments
Working around the elderly daily, I find this 'cure' simply comical. Thanks for teaching me something new. I have something to tell my pts now
Interesting...
Crazy bureaucracy....
A very wisely-stated teaser, yet people around the nation may not know your fact. The year set it off for me! Keep up the common sense trivia teasers. I enjoyed it, immensely.
Hint made no sense... if she'd died at 2, she wouldn't have died from old age..
If you're dead, you're dead. They can't arrest you for dying of old age. Americans... really...
I have always thought this was silly. I believe people do die from old age. Our society has become one which would like to have someone or something to blame for everything, including death. One cannot simply fall down and call it an accident. Someone or something must be blamed for causing it.
Fun trivia.
Fun trivia.
That's a really interesting fact - great stuff!
Nov 03, 2006
i want too see that one on a episode on CSI:STOOPID
wowwwers. That was pretty kewl. I had like to try to figure out what cause it lol for the answer
thank I learned somethin new
thank I learned somethin new
I know the Question was "what did she die from?", but I was wondering what state she was born in. you say she was the first to be born in the state in 1851. I google "statehood dates" and Californa entered statehood Sept. 9, 1850. so Cali. seem like a good anwser.
I thought this teaser was interesting and good
Which states were inclined to track first birth of year in 1851? My great, great-grandparents were lucky to have baptismal records.
That's a nice piece of trivia!
That was very intersesting. I didn't know that they cured old age!
great teaser! but i think it should go under trivia...
great teaser! but i think it should go under trivia...
I liked it! Thanks for a good teaser!
I agree, trivia may have been a better category.
I was also wondering what state could have possibly tracked the first birth in that year.
I was also wondering what state could have possibly tracked the first birth in that year.
oops....i guess it was under trivia, my mistake.
No, i don't think the cause of death would be old age. Eventually we will all die. If we make it to old age, something will still kill us. In this case, sounds like multisystem failure. As a result of old age??? Probably. But the cause of death, in my opinion, would be multisystem failure. But hey, I'm no doctor.
What you state in the answer about the underlying cause being "old age". It's the same as saying that the Jews murdered in the holocaust were killed by their faith, because the underlying reason their died was because they were Jewish, but it's not the "cause" of death. The cause was whatever method was used for the genocide.
In the same way...yes, old age was related to the death, but this particular lady would've died as a result of a stopped heart, or something else.
She was born on January 1st 1851...what a horrible birthdate.
In the same way...yes, old age was related to the death, but this particular lady would've died as a result of a stopped heart, or something else.
She was born on January 1st 1851...what a horrible birthdate.
Interesting factoid. Thanks.
hmmm.i dont think that was a teaser.it was more of a fun fackt..you get an a for effort
Interesting fact - and I hope *I* die of old age, too - a LONG TIME FROM NOW!
Interesting bit of information, but I have to agree with the folks who say this should be in the trivia catagory. You either knew it or you didn't.
It IS in the TRIVIA category, that's where I put it when I wrote it, and that's where it is now!
The "old age" metaphor seems to have been displaced by "natural causes."
Interesting fact...
I never would have gotten this one w/o looking at the answer - so although hard (perhaps too much so), it was extremely interesting and fun...
XIEXIE NI! THANKS!
WHAT WAS HER BIRTH STATE?
WHAT WAS HER BIRTH STATE?
Sorry for your loss..
It all depends on what you mean by "cause." There are primary causes, secondary causes, contributing causes, etc. What the government was after, apparently, as to have doctors list the primary or immediate cause of death on death certificates, not a more general or secondary cause.
She was born in the state of Infancy and died
in the state of Trivia.
in the state of Trivia.
YAY.....I got that one!
'Illegal' doesn't make any sense in the hint.
i didn't like that one very much
Is the part about his grandma dieing true?
While an interesting factoid Cliff, how is this a teaser ?!?
people still die at old age
to easy im only in 7th grade and i got it right away
Very nice teaser! Definitely an interesting and informing one! Thanks!
i think that the clue was misleading.. it wouldnt be illegal to die of old age... it would just be considered incorrect.
Good teaser. Death from old age still occurs tho - as the different organs shut down. Good info on this submission. More, please?
I agree with a few others...it is not illegal to die from old age, it is just that the medical field is held accountable for being more precise.
People die from old age, and I'll bet my lunch money that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who died after that date that have old age listed as the cause. Gotta believe that the doctor in some small towns took a while to adopt the new policy.
People die from old age, and I'll bet my lunch money that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who died after that date that have old age listed as the cause. Gotta believe that the doctor in some small towns took a while to adopt the new policy.
MalcolmReynolds and shdwhawk do have a point. Great teaser!
She wasn't the first person born in that state, ever. She was just the first person born in the state that year.
That's what it says: She was the first baby born in the state *in 1851*.
I'm not sure it is accurate to say old age is an underlying cause. Whatever the actual reason the person dies from, can happen to anyone at any age. The mere fact that they are older simply means more time has passed for that condition to occur for them. Had some magical cure been found for that condition (I.e. heart failure), the day before she died, and then a week after she is cured, she is killed in a car wreck, she still dies - and it wasn't due to old age, just that she lived long enough for that cause to happen.
Old age just means that more time has elapsed giving more opportunities for something to go wrong. When something does go wrong, that is the cause - not the fact that time has elapsed. I hope that makes sense...
Old age just means that more time has elapsed giving more opportunities for something to go wrong. When something does go wrong, that is the cause - not the fact that time has elapsed. I hope that makes sense...
I didn't get it. You either knew this one or not. Can't call a teaser fun when it is about death. But it was different.
I'm confused as to why she would have been 100. If she was born in 1851, and died in 1950, even if it was one day before her birthday, wouldn't she be 98 turning 99?
Her birthday was Jan. 1st, 1851. She turned 99 on Jan 1st, 1950. She died on Dec 31st, 1950 - one day before her 100th bday on Jan 1st, 1951.
interesting.....
VERY interesting.....
VERY interesting.....
This is such an unpleasant subject when you are actually old. Interesting to you young people.
Even though it happens to everyone, it is not something to dwell on.
Even though it happens to everyone, it is not something to dwell on.
The hint is incorrect. It is not illegal for someone to die of "old age - would they be arrested post-mortem? Deletion of "old age" as a cause of death simply means that a medical examiner (or other qualified individual) can't write "old age" as the cause on a death certificate. It is the action of writing it on a death certificate that became illegal for the medical person to do. And, it is true that one can't die from "old age". Certainly organs (etc) become weaker with age, but it is their failure that causes death, not age itself. Age is just a number...
I really enjoyed this. I have always been irritated by people dismissing someone's cause of death as merely 'old age'. You don't just drop dead because you're old. Was it that the heart stopped? Someone's chronic illness made an organ fail? There is Always something. As for people who got hung up on the 'illegal' thing, that's semantics only-just saying that it's no longer legal terminology.
Fun and interesting history at the same time.
I think the policy enacted in 1951 is entirely reasonable. At the root, it makes no sense to say that old age kills people.
is IS a teaser, it was posed a s a question to be answered.
it IS in trivia now, so it's a trivia teaser, to say it's not a teaser just because it involves something you need to already know is like dismissing any and every teaser you have no fore knowledge on.
it IS illegal. Illegal for whom, certainly not the deceased, the it is illegal to be written off. A doctor can't write 'old age' on the death certificate, they must autopsy, and find the ACTUAL cause, as many have said, faillure of a or some systems, caused old people to die. The logic that we die because we are old is based off of the logic that everyone's time to go is predestined.
it IS in trivia now, so it's a trivia teaser, to say it's not a teaser just because it involves something you need to already know is like dismissing any and every teaser you have no fore knowledge on.
it IS illegal. Illegal for whom, certainly not the deceased, the it is illegal to be written off. A doctor can't write 'old age' on the death certificate, they must autopsy, and find the ACTUAL cause, as many have said, faillure of a or some systems, caused old people to die. The logic that we die because we are old is based off of the logic that everyone's time to go is predestined.
Quocalimar, sorry but I strongly disagree. A cause of death, be it old age, extreme age, multi-system failure, single system failure or anything in between does not negate predestination - should anyone choose to believe in that. What it does do is cause families to spend more money (often against their will, at least until living wills became common). Also, it elevates science over humanity, which is more prevalent than ever. i'm not in the least anti-science, I just believe real science, statements based on observable, repeatable data, should serve mankind (and animal-kind and our environment), rather than the other way around. BTW, Thanks again, fun and informative!
And [God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away. ~ Revelation 21:4
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