Help deciphering cause of death please

ellenavon · Post by **ellenavon** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:01 am

Hi folks

Would appreciate your help in deciphering the cause of death of baby William Taylor Whitefield, first entry on the cert just uploaded (hopefully!) to the gallery.
<yup, it was there!

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1472 LesleyB>
Many thanks in advance.

Ellen.

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:18 am

Hi Ellen
My guess woud be;
marasmus, syncope.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marasmus
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_syncope

Best wishes
Lesley

ellenavon · Post by **ellenavon** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:23 am

Thanks Lesley.

Poor little thing. He must have been either unable to feed properly, or his body was unable to absorb protien, as although the family were not exactly wealthy, nor were they so poor that he would be otherwise malnourished.

Thanks for your help.

Ellen.

Post by **joette** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:27 pm

Could have been a premature birth,an underlying disease or syndrome which was not diagnosed or even recognised.
Could even have been the Mother was in poor health & the quality of her milk was poor.
The poor Mum could have been suffering from Post-Natal depression & unable to care for the child properly-children can die from lack of love-think Romania & its orphanages.

"Marasmus" was a kind of catch all diagnosis for small children & babies who were ill with no apparent disease kind of like today's "Virus".