Dianadiluca@aol.com wrote: > > I know for sure that a person I have been researching was certified to an > Asylum in Surrey. She was changed to a 'voluntary' category and was in and out > of the hospital (mostly in) for years. She died in the Asylum. On her > death certificate the cause of death was kidney failure or something like it. I > shouldn't think that 'insanity' or 'mentally ill' is normally recorded as a > cause of death. That's bcause "insanity" or "mental illness" is a condition and it wouldn't cause death of itself. It might be the *reason* for a person to commit suicide though but it still wouldn't be the actual cause. "Temporary insanity" was often given for the reason why someone committed suicide because that would allow the deceased to be buried in consecrated ground. Without that phrase or one similar, the deceased would have been buried in unconsecrated ground or outside the churchyard walls. > My father had severe dementia but the cause of death was > kidney failure. It wasn't the demetia that caused your father's death. That's why it wasn't given as the cause. Kidney failure was the cause. The dementia was incidental. The only time you'll get Insanity mentioned as a cause of death is when it's used as the euphamism for the tertiary stage of syphilis (general paralysis of the insane), which was what carried off a great great uncle who died in Colney Hatch Asylum. (I'd love to know who he acquired that from!)