Genealogy Chat

Hi all. Sorry if this is a bit of a morbid request but, I have just received my Nans death cert and I don't quite understand the cause of death. I was wondering if there is someone who could help me. The cause is a) Congestive cardiac failure b) Chronic nephritis. Many thanks, Gaynor x

nephritis is kidney inflamation ( i'd assume this meant she was in kidney failure) Heart failure is also known as congestive heart failure or congested cardiac failure. It develops as a result of damage to the heart muscle. The heart loses the ability to pump blood effectively around the rest of the body. Heart failure may affect either the right side, left side, or both sides of the heart.

Thanks Jess. I did wonder about that as my family said she died of Dropsy which was to do with the kidneys & waterworks but, I'd never heard of nephritis. Maybe Dropsy was the common name for it back in the 1940's? I took it that the cardiac failure was a heat attack but I'm not sure about the congestive bit? Many thanks, Gaynor x

a) Heart failure b) Kidney failure. Google it theres quite a lot of info there. Rod Jess beat me again (I should be so lucky)

Thanks, Rod. I will. Gaynor x

Have just googled Dropsy. Definition of Dropsy. Dropsy: An old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water. In years gone by a person might have been said to have dropsy. Today one would be more descriptive and specify the cause. Thus, the person might have edema due to congestive heart failure. Thanks, all & Rod for giving me the idea to google it! Gaynor x

Someone told me recently that you should consider causes of death in reverse order. The 1st mentioned cause may be pneumonia, for example and indeed because of the pneumonia the person died but that was often caused by an underlying medical condition, which will be recorded further down the list. Gwyn