How do people die?

How do people die?

How do people die? This is an obvious question. But the answer is very long. In legal sense death of a person occurs when all his brain functions are ceased. But medically there are several different types of deaths,
These include
Somatic death
Cell death
Brain death
But this is not the answer to the above question. To answer the above question we should list the causes of the death. These include trauma, Infections, toxins, irradiation, suffocation, dehydration, Nutritional deprivation, congenital abnormalities, cancers and etc. This is a very long list and it is almost impossible to mention everything here.
These different causes have different mechanisms in the causation of the death.

How does trauma cause death?
In a trauma vital organs can be damaged. For an example if the brain is damaged to a considerable extent it can cause an instant death. In some traumas excessive blood losses can cause circulatory arrest and shock.

How do toxins cause death?

Almost all the toxins interact with the cells at the molecular level. Well known poison cyanide inhibits the enzyme cytochrome oxidase of the respiratory chain and diminishes cellular production of ATP. This cause an instantaneous death of all the exposed cells. Some toxins like organo phosphates can interfere with the neurotransmitter function and can cause death.

How does irradiation cause death?

Some radiations like, alpha rays, can cause direct burn injuries. But the other radiations may not cause such obvious physical damage. But these radiations can cause damage to cellular DNA damage which can ultimately lead to the death. Small DNA alterations can give rise to tumors and carcinoma.

How do Infections cause death?

Infections can cause death in many ways. Infective organisms can cause direct death of the cells which ultimately lead to the death of that individual. Some infective organisms secrete toxines which can damage cells in different ways. Some infections cause immunodeficiency which ultimately leads to the death by an infection from another organism.