The gist Queen Elizabeth II’s death certificate, released on Thursday September 29, certifies that the monarch died of old age. But can we really die of old age? Isn’t the origin of death linked to pathologies? Renaud Marin La Meslée, President of SNGIE, answers us.
Three weeks after the disappearance of Queen Elizabeth II, her obituary was published on Thursday 29 September. This document notes that the monarch “died of old age” at 3:10 p.m. on September 8. But is it really possible? Can you really die of old age? La Dépêche du Midi takes stock with the President of the SNGIE (National Union of General Practitioners and Geriatricians Intervening in EHPAD) Renaud Marin La Meslée.
“What makes us die of old age is that like all animal species, we have a longevity buffer. No individual of the human species will live 150 years, there is no such thing,” explains Renaud Marin La Meslee. In fact, according to the specialist, the question of death “from old age” is quite complex, since it occurs very rarely.
Pathologies leading to death
“You can probably die of old age from the age of 120 if you are free of diseases and have never had an accident in your life,” he explains. However, these cases are extremely rare. “Elderly people who are 110 years old and older who don’t have any disease or infirmity when they approach 120 years of age, that’s not very common,” admits the President of SNGIE.
In the case of Queen Elizabeth II, who was 96 at the time of her death, he said her death would be “connected to the consequences of her past life, the accidents she’s had, the illnesses she may have contracted. “England died partly of old age and partly of diseases which she might have had before old age,” explains Renaud Marin La Meslée. According to the expert, older people die more often from diseases related to cell aging.
cell aging
In fact, the death of the elderly is explained by the aging of cells, which lose their function and can cause disease. “Our cells can divide a certain number of times in order to reproduce, but after a certain time the replications are faulty. Therefore, the cells that replace the dead cells are no longer effective, they have abnormalities and this is the bed of diseases, when you make cells abnormal, you make cancer,” explains the specialist.
In these cases, the course of the disease is predictable. “If you have someone who has heart failure and the medication is no longer having the desired effect, doctors warn the family that the person is entering the end-stage of the disease. But without illness there are no signs that we are entering the final phase of life,” the expert admits.
Systematic cardiac arrest
Regarding the so-called “sudden” deaths, which are often referred to as “death of old age”, the specialist explains that these are often people who are already found dead. “So we can’t say if they died suddenly,” explains Renaud Marin La Meslée.
“In nursing homes, where caregivers go through the night every two to three hours, we see people asleep by 3am and dead by 5am without moving from their beds. What is certain is that life always ends in cardiac arrest, which leads to circulatory arrest and then to suffocation of the cells, which are deprived of oxygen and glucose,” he affirms.