What does this document say?

Question

I am looking up my family history and have a death certificate for my great great grandmother. I can read the rest of the document but the cause of death is really hard to read. What does it say? I have many possibilities.

First line: The second and third word look like "to be" The first word could possibly be two smaller words, maybe "used." The last word looks like it ends in "xy"

Second line: I see two possibilities "nerv. damage patient," or "never saw patient"

Third line: It looks like "at any time"

What does it say? What do you see? Here is a link to a picture of the document.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm269/thetoyrehabcenter/deathcertificate.jpg

Answer 1

Honestly, the best I could come up with was:

"Death said to be _______"

"Never saw patient at any time".

The blank could be anything from accidental to homicide to natural or a host of others.

One thing I have found is that it is helpful to compare this to other documents like it in the same hand if you can.  If you can look at other death certificates this doctor or coroner has signed, you may be able to better decipher that word as it may have similar shape to other more easily read examples.

Answer 2

I think never saw patient is correct.

at any time is also correct.

Sorry can't make out 1st line.

Answer 3

From what you have said and I looked at it from there, it appears that the doctor that signed the death certificate never saw the patient before. Any medical doctor can sign a death certificate not just the patients doctor.

Answer 4

To me , it looks like apoplexy which is a sudden impairment of neurological function which is lots of times caused by a stroke or a cerebral hemmorhage.  That would explain the nerve damage. The second line looks like it MAY be "nerve damage present."  Those doctors should have to pass a handwriting exam before they are allowed to treat the human body.  I often wonder how pharmacists can do their job effectively sometimes!!

Answer 5

I think the last part is "never saw patient at any time". My best guess is "she (?) appeared to be applexy" which might mean apoplexy. Wikipedia describes this old fashioned term which was used to describe many kinds of unknown deaths. It is most likely to have been a stroke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoplexy

Many deaths before autopsies were done were lumped into catagories we no longer use.

http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/ has a list of old fashioned terms for cause of death.

Answer 6

It looks like "before hand to be apoplexy.  never saw patient at any time".

Answer 7

my vote-

"believed to be apolexy  never saw patient at any time"

the two comments would make sense, that he thinks it was apolexy, probably based on description from someone else, but he isn't positive since he never saw her before the death.

Answer 8

The last word on the first line is Apoplexy.  I had the same problem trying to make out the word on my great grandfather's death certificate.

Apoplexy (Apoloplexy/ Apop. Fit/ Apoplepy/ Appolexy)

1 A sudden diminution or loss of consciousness, sensation, and voluntary motion, usually caused by extravasation of blood or serum into the brain or spinal cord.

2 The condition of any organ or tissue marked by an effusion of blood into its substance as in of the lung. Cerebral: disturbance of brain circulation as by hemorrhage, embolism ot thrombosis.

I'm pretty sure this is what they now call a "Stroke".

Answer 9

I can't read the first word on the top line, but the next words seem to me say:- to her offspring. The first word might be confessed?

Answer 10

I think it says the cause of death was "APOPLEXY"(pronounced like ap-uh-plek-see)--an old-fashioned medical term, which can be used to mean 'bleeding'. and used to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one where the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. Those reading historical documents should take into consideration the possibility that the word "apoplexy" may be used to describe the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death and not an actual verified disease process. Sudden cardiac deaths, ruptured cerebral aneurysms, certain ruptured aortic aneurysms, and even heart attacks may have been described as apoplexy in the distant past.  The term 'apoplexy' is used to describe bleeding within internal organs, like if it were in the adrenal gland it would be called "adrenal apoplexy."

The second and third line do read "Never saw patient at any time." I could not read the signatures, however, because they looked to be written one on top of the other. One looked like it had RN behind it which could mean Registered Nurse.