How old would you die?

rick_chasey

Say you lived in a world with absolutely no medicine or medical care.

Say you got your illnesses etc at exactly the same time in your life as you have had.

How old would you have died / would you still be alive?

I’ll go: dead at 31. Appendicitis

ddraver

What a cheery thread Rickchard...

shirley_basso

Still alive. I asked my wife and she sadly said in childbirth.

First.Aspect

Immortal

morstar

If this is another phishing question?

If so, I’m not sure it’s the sort of question that typically gets asked.

Two incidents that I may well have survived without medical intervention but far from guaranteed.

Bad gastric bug as a teenager and 1 really bad asthma attack in late 20’s.

shirley_basso

Tbh this thread is missing a poll

Pross

Most serious treatment I've ever had was for two broken wrists so I'd presumably be fine. That said, I may have caught something fatal from someone else who hadn't been treated assuming this is a world where no-one has medical treatment rather than just me.

womack

PE at 55 which if not diagnosed / treated would most likely have seen me off.

DeVlaeminck

Think I'd still be alive at 52. Wife and 2 youngest might have died in childbirth though.

seanoconn

First.Aspect said:

Immortal

We’ll see about that.

There can be only one

elbowloh

I think I'd still be here.

pblakeney

Chances are I'd have died at 27 of pneumonia.

Cheery thread. Looking for the positives, it means everything else is a bonus.

emanresu

I'm in my early 40's and I've never been treated in hospital. The worst injury I've sustained is a sprain and the worst disease I've had is chicken pox so I'd still be alive.

pangolin

Think I'd be alright. Tooth infection could have got me I suppose, depends whether someone would have just ripped it out before it got bad.

Not sure wife (or daughter) would have survived her first labour, which is a weird thought.

tailwindhome

Early childhood. Scarlet fever.

tailwindhome

rick_chasey said:

Say you lived in a world with absolutely no medicine or medical care.

Say you got your illnesses etc at exactly the same time in your life as you have had.

How old would you have died / would you still be alive?

I’ll go: dead at 31. Appendicitis

Died with or died of?

rick_chasey

?

verylonglegs

Isn't it difficult to say if you've had any treatment with antibiotics at some point? Any one of those occasions for me could've gone south for all I know.

capt_slog

shirley_basso said:

Tbh this thread is missing a poll

Have you thought of asking people if they want one?


It's hard to say whether or not I'd have died without intervention, but I had my appendix out at around age 56. I suppose they wouldn't have taken it out if it wasn't necessary.

Other than that, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at late 40's (fortunately I can't die of bad memory, unless I forget to take the BP medication, or I'd have gone ages ago). Again, i don't if that would have killed me yet if it hadn't been noticed.

Wheelspinner

Hmmm. Tonsil and adenoids both gone when I was about 6 I think. Appendix at 12. Pneumonia at 13.

Pick one.

Since then, fairly indestructible.

First.Aspect

By now I may have some form of impairment from mumps, but this is unlikely, and as you can see from my Avatar, I'd likely have severe mobility issues now. In truth, I'd not have made it that far because I would have died from gangrene or a tropical disease of some sort from a minor cut (there was shiny white stuff visible) suffered when travelling age 30.

Anyone who was born via unexpected C-section may have died in childbirth, incidentally.

veronese68

Cancer 15 years ago, major bleed on the lungs 8 years ago are the obvious ones. Might have survived appendicitis in my 20s as it went down and was removed as a non emergency.
But on the bright side presumably we wouldn't have all the deaths caused by road accidents either.

morstar

verylonglegs said:

Isn't it difficult to say if you've had any treatment with antibiotics at some point? Any one of those occasions for me could've gone south for all I know.

This. After my post I was thinking we’re only considering the things where we experienced a severe impact and modern intervention was obvious.
The reality is probably more the mundane stuff that is so inconsequential these days wouldn’t have been inconsequential without medicine.
A simple infection would probably have killed loads of us from an event we don’t even recall.

pangolin

I did my grandad's family tree a few years ago for his birthday. Going through old censuses it was only a couple of generations back from him where you'd see half the kids there one year and gone a few years later. Sobering.

morstar

And flu in 2010. Without mainlining asthma inhalers, that may well have finished me off so that’s 3 possible for me that I know of.
Had stitches once so that’s a wound that might have been problematic for infection without.

Tetanus? Other vaccinations...

It’s a wonder people in olden days didn’t live much shorter lives.

david37

probably several times in my twenties from yellow fever or malaria or similar. A particularly nasty parasite picked up probably from contaminated water led to world class rapid weight loss and a spell in isolation turning myself inside out. still, 2 weeks off is 2 weeks off.

broken bones a plenty, some of which might have led to disability if not death and plenty of cuts and scrapes all of which could easily have led to gangrene or similar without good stitching.

I suspect very few people living full lives would get beyond 50 without medical support.

but what is no medical support? the evidence is Humans have treated themselves from the dawn of time. from at least 4000 years BC. albeit sometimes ineffectually.

Imhotep c2600BC became known for his powers of healing and his writing on the subject. interesting fact, it was about 2000 years after his death that he began to be acknowledged for his medical knowledge and there is no evidence he had any skills during his lifetime.

the reality is that without modern medicine most of us would have died in childhood.

morstar

Funny how we’re not extinct.

Wheelspinner

morstar said:

Funny how we’re not extinct.

Its not, really. Only have to live long enough to reproduce, and ensure offspring survive to the point they can look after themselves. Humans can do the reproduction thing from mid teens, so living to 25 or 30 would be enough to achieve that. Best if they have multiple children to improve the odds, so perhaps 30 is the minimum age to ensure species survival?

rjsterry

Almost certainly would have been stillborn, as First.Aspect mentioned.

Coincidentally, I saw this the other day, which is quite something.



More info here.

https://twitter.com/KristinCollie20/status/1375561132493176834?s=09

briantrumpet

Not spent a night in hospital (yet), and no idea if I'd have deaded without the minor medical interventions such as antibiotics and inoculations.

On another tack, I suspect I'll win the prize for missing out on grandfathers: one died (heart attack) when I was six weeks old, and the other died in 1929, from TB.

Pross

morstar said:

Funny how we’re not extinct.

Wouldn't it just be like living in medieval times so high infant mortality and much shorter overall life expectancy?