Understanding a "Cause of Death" - COMPLETED

[tilly56]

Please does anyone know what the following means :

Morbus Cardis  14 years

I know morbus Cardis but wondered what the 14 years meant?  The person who died was 36 and died at home.....

Many thanks

Tilly

[Shropshire Lass]

Where I've seen a time period on the death certificate it has indicated how long the person had the illness before death.

Monica

[alunno-a]

Hi, I agree to that--from my death certs of relatives it looks like a time was given , often "certified x years" where it was a contagious desease such as TB, or where official note was taken of long term illness--for receiving parish, or charitable relief etc. I also wonder if they put this to show a post mortum was not nescessary (is that how you spell that??)
Sally

[PrueM]

Agreed - the time stated after a cause of death is usually (always?) the period for which the person has been suffering from that condition.

Morbus Cordis is a general term for disease of the heart.  You might find this site interesting, if you haven't already seen it - lots of old terms for medical conditions and really useful for interpreting old death certificates!

http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/Index.htm

Cheers
Prue

[tilly56]

Hello Sally, Prue and Monica

thank you very much for your reply - I too thought that it might mean the length of time the person had been ill................this ancestor, Gt Grandfather Herbert Clifford, is variously said, in the family, to have caught "Brights Disease" during the Boer War or caught something nasty travelling up (or down?) the Amazon...............So I suppose whichever one it was (more likely the Boer War than the Amazon I think! ), could have given him a weak heart............

thanks again

Tilly

[toni*]

Brights Disease was Kidney Disease (named after Mr Bright) now split into different type of kidney disease but you couldn't catch it.

[tilly56]

Hello Toni

Thank you for the info - I was told that he apparently he caught the disease following an encounter with a rat........

I found morbis cardis at the following site :

www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk


I have just had another look and he also mentions Bright's Disease.

I think I shall put the link on the useful links page.................

tilly

[toni*]

well i didn't know this bit re Brights Disease  :~

Historically, Bright's disease is often a catch-all for kidney diseases, but strictly speaking is glomerulonephritis, which may be a complication of streptococcal sore throat

[tilly56]

Yes, it's quite interesting - but not really bedtime reading...................

ps : quick question - is it ok to post a link to this site - or should I have asked them first?