My husband passed away last Friday. I am walking around in a fog and like always I have questions about this stupid disease. I was always told that pneumonia usually is the last problem. I was told by the doctor ( and he really should not be called a doctor) that the cause was Acute Cardio Pulmonary Failure. I tried to look it up and I know it is regarding lungs and heart, but WHAT HAPPENED.
I too will be interested in the reply to your question. When my mom died, and I called her primary care doctor's office to let them know she had died, the person kept asking what the cause of death was..I kept saying ALZ...and the other person kept saying no it was not the cause of death but contributed to it. I insisted it was ALZ ( and that is on the death cert)..the other person kept tryin to argue this point to which I finally said she never had a stroke or heart attack..she had a pacemaker which kept her going.The other person kept trying to tell me pneumonia was most likely it..it was like arguing with a wall.
Now for anyone on the boards who thinks I am one of those posting about a LO and not a spouse, may I remind you that my DH also has this disease.He has multiple health issues..he is diabetic, has IHD and vascular issues, and has had a lacunar (sp) stroke. So it would seem that if one of those conditions does not lead to his demise, then it would be ALZ.
Did your DH have any complicating illnesses? If so maybe that is where the issue lies. I hope Dr Josh can lend some light on this for the benefit of us all.
I sign a handful of death certificates a week. I often put dementia down as a cause of death. Acute cardio pulmonary failure is just a fancy way of saying the heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing. It's not really a cause of death but a mechanism (it happens in everyone who dies-it's almost like saying the reason the person died is because they stopped living). Sometimes dementia causes an acute event like pneumonia, UTI, aspiration pneumonia. Sometimes it leads to weight loss which causes the heart to fail or the lungs to fail (loss of muscle mass). Sometimes the heart just slows down and stops (I've seen this in the hospital when someone is on monitors and we can watch it minute by minute until the patient passes away). Sometimes the person stops eating and develops acute kidney failure from dehydration (high potassium or failure to eliminate toxins) that also leads to heart arrhythmias. Sometimes it is something unrelated to the dementia such as a stroke or heart attack. Sometimes there's a blood clot to the lungs that develops suddenly too.
More often than not, if it is in a NH and there is no acute event (new shortness of breath, new pain) it is likely that the heart just slows down and stops. Maybe renal failure plays a role too. I'll ask one of our palliative care docs and get back to you all.
The fact that for decades doctors HAVE NOT put Alzheimer's (or other dementia) down as a cause of death is why this disease flys under the radar and is not recognized as the problem that it is.
In signing a death certificate the MD is suppose to list the "lethal chain". This, lead to that, which finally caused death by . . . I have heard some doctors state (incorrectly) that they were not permitted to list ALZ/dementia as a cause of death. That such a certificate would not be accepted by the authorities. So they list something else.
I do geneaolgy and I have tried to find AD/dementia in my wife's family. It is almost impossible because old death certificates simply did not list it.
Because too many death certificates for our type of victims are filled out lisitng 'heart attack' or 'cardio-pulmonary failure' is why ALZ is not (YET) one of the leading 'causes of death' in this country. ALZ is rapidly rising as a 'cause of death' because FINALLY more MDs are listing it. This change is supported/promoted by the ALZ Assoc in a big part because it draws more attention and MORE FUNDING for research. :-)
So Paula, Mimi and others, continue to support having ALZ (or other dementia) listed on the death certificate. It helps us all.
My husband's doctor listed as cause of death 1. Some word that meant failure to thrive (he was 91 and had lost weight rapidly because he didn't eat) and 2. End stages of Dementia, probably Alzheimer's. I aske dhte doctor what should I put in the obit as cause of death and he said, "Old age."