Arms crossed on the edge of her duvet, lit by the dim light coming through the window of her Scottish bedroom, she struggles to keep her eyes open. At his bedside, his loved ones cling to each of his breaths. Then nothing. A final gasp, and his life is extinguished.
This is almost how one might imagine the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Thursday, September 8, 2022, according to the official press release sent by Buckingham Palace. “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this followingnoon,” it read.
Overrepresented in popular culture, this image of a natural, gentle, and disease-free death is still a tenacious myth. When it comes to the death of an elderly person, or very old, diagnosed with no pathology (at least publicly), it is common to hear that “this person died of old age”. Like a candle whose flame goes out at the end of its burst.
Christophe De Jaeger, doctor of medicine, physiologist and gerontologist and author of Aging well without drugs (Ed….
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