Finding a family's medical history through genealogy?

Question

Is there a way or website to find out the causes of death of family members?

I know very little of my paternal side of my family, but what I do know of them, the males all had heart-related problems that caused their deaths (my father had an enlarged heart that caused him to have a fatal heart attack at the age of 52, my paternal uncle had a fatal heart attack at the age of 48.)

The reason I am needing to find this information is because I am starting to see a pattern of heart-related problems, but I have Stage 2b Cervical Cancer that went in remission on 4/14/08 and I am just curious to know if there are other heart-related problems or cancers on either side of my family.

Answer 1

yes and no.  

Don't look for this on a website, except (in the US), you normally can find dates of death through the social security death index.  That includes deaths only back to about 1960.  DEPENDING on the state of death, and their laws, you may be able to order death certificates.

The alternative is family cooperation, USING genealogy to find relatives, and offer them ancestry information, to open communication.  For example.. if you can trace back to your gr gr grandparents, you then might work to locate living family members. Due to privacy laws, this will be harder than finding historical records. On the other hand.. build a network, by freely sharing history, and re-bonding with relatives. Plans for a family reunion give a great REASON for this goal.  If you find one cousin, then you spread the word, asking for everyone to contribute current locations and names.

Normally, I suggest the focus is on working backwards, but this is the exception. I used gr gr grandparents as the focus.. you can work it back more than that, if you choose.

ONCE you get a reunion going (or establish the bond/network).. you can bring up the idea of a voluntary family medical history.  This means that living persons are free to contribute information that will not be anywhere else, including things that have not yet caused any deaths. Because it remains voluntary, it is not invasion of private records. The obvious bonus is to everyone.. that if there IS any genetic health issues.. people are on alert, and may choose to have early testing done.

You can save someone's life this way.  The bonus is the emotional bonding that can be built.  

Answer 2

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default....

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/

http://www.genuki.org.uk/

http://www.uk-genealogy.org.uk/

http://www.ancestorhunt.com/united_kingd...

http://www.oz.net/~markhow/acronym-uk.ht...

http://www.familyhistory.uk.com/

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/genesreun...

Answer 3

Here in the UK there is nothing like that, the only way to find the information for sure is by asking other relatives or buying death certificates which would be quite costly.