What does death from natural causes REALLY mean? Experts explain the terminology
- A natural death means a coroner determines there was no outside source
- Cancer or stroke would be a ‘natural’ death and a car accident would be ‘unnatural’
It is often said that a person’s death is due to “natural causes.”
But what does the terminology actually mean as it appears on the S Club’s Paul Cattermole’s death certificate?
Many associate the phrase with old age, but it actually signals that death is due to a disease within the body and not due to an external factor.
A natural cause of death is confirmed by a forensic medical certificate stating that a post-mortem based on a medical certificate is not required.
Mr. Cattermole was found dead on April 6 – just two months after he and the band announced they would be embarking on a reunion tour in the fall.
S Club 7’s Paul Cattermole was found dead on April 6 – just two months after he and the band announced they would be embarking on a reunion tour this fall
And today a spokeswoman for the Dorset Coroner’s Office confirmed that the singer died suddenly of natural causes at the age of 46 and that there would be no inquest into his death.
dr Kathryn Pinneri, a pathologist and president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said deaths from cancer, stroke or diabetes are classified as “natural causes.”
Examples of “non-natural” deaths include traffic accidents, suicide, drug overdoses, and accidents like drowning, she told HuffPost.
and dr David Fowler, an anatomical and forensic pathologist, described the manner of death to CNN as dying from a “natural disease process.”
He said examples of this are illnesses “that will kill us at some point along the way,” such as infections or heart disease.
“If I’m working out and having a heart attack … or shoveling snow and having a heart attack because I’m stressed, that’s natural,” said Dr. fowler
But if a person participating in a sport died from something caused by the activity, such as a head injury, that death would not be “natural.”
There is a difference between the “cause” and the “mode” of death.
And despite the fact that the term “death is from “natural causes,” it is actually the “manner” of death—the determination of how the injury or disease leads to death.
The coroner will determine whether the manner of death was natural, accidental, suicide or homicide.
The “cause,” on the other hand, is the disease or injury itself that leads to death, such as a stroke.