Modern society and Mortality

Oberon · 05-11-11, 08:33 AM

A bit of a psychological thinker this one.

I got a book from the library the other day, it's one chaps thoughts about the future and the direction of society, technology, and other such things. I haven't read far into it yet, but the opening paragraph talks of a lady who died alone in her flat with her television on and was there for two years before anyone discovered her remains.
Here is the original story:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...rs-474117.html

I also recently discovered an article relating to a woman who was undiscovered in her flat for five years:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...d-missing.html

I related this tale to my other half who was quite incredulous that someone can die and no-one know about it, in a society today that monitors everything that everyone does. How was someone able to die and lay unmolested for two years? With the television on too. How did the bills get paid? Surely someone would have noticed somewhere along the line and raised the alarm?
I disagreed, I mentioned a recent incident when my great-aunt and uncle had noticed an elderly lady across their road had her bathroom light on for four days and nights straight, and when the police went to check they found her dead in the bathroom.

Life, they say, has a strange ironic way to it.

Over the past week we've grown concerned for my uncle who lives in Catford, London. He normally sends a Christmas card and a birthday card for myself up, even though he's not a very rich man (quite the opposite) and we had received neither. Our concern grew when we spoke to my great-aunt and she mentioned that he hadn't cashed a cheque which she sent to him for Christmas. Now, a poor man not cashing a cheque? We asked a friend of my mothers who lives not far from Catford to check on him, so she went there and knocked on the door, no answer, and no-one in the block of flats had seen him for a while. We spoke to our next door neighbour who is a counselor and she recommended asking the police to do a Welfare check on him. The police went to his place and knocked, no answer.
So, the next step was for the police to seek entry to the place, and by now we were having a horrible feeling what they would find. Sure enough, later that day we got a visit from one of our local policemen who had received a missive from Catford police to say that they had found the body of my uncle in the bathroom of his flat.
He had been there since the beginning of December it would seem, judging by the mail by his door and his state of decay is such that it is not possible to judge the cause of death. We hope and pray that it was a swift and painless one and not suicide. However nothing can be ruled out as he was a troubled man whose life had given him its own fair share of curb kicks. The post mortem is still underway and there will likely be an inquest into his death but I can't help but feel sorry for the poor officers who went into that flat and found his body, it can't have been a nice experience for them and we have rung Catford police to ask the inspector to pass on our thanks, unfortunately we can't actually thank them by name as it's not permitted for them to give out the details.

It is a strange and sad world when a man or woman can die and lay un-noticed in their flat or house for such a period of time, if it had not been for the sending of cards and letters periodically then we would have been none the wiser and his body would most likely still be there. In this day and age of instant communication, instant messaging, forums and email, we are closer together than ever before and yet at the same time it seems, more alone than ever before.

05-11-11, 08:33 AM	#1
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	Modern society and Mortality A bit of a psychological thinker this one. I got a book from the library the other day, it's one chaps thoughts about the future and the direction of society, technology, and other such things. I haven't read far into it yet, but the opening paragraph talks of a lady who died alone in her flat with her television on and was there for two years before anyone discovered her remains. Here is the original story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...rs-474117.html I also recently discovered an article relating to a woman who was undiscovered in her flat for five years: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...d-missing.html I related this tale to my other half who was quite incredulous that someone can die and no-one know about it, in a society today that monitors everything that everyone does. How was someone able to die and lay unmolested for two years? With the television on too. How did the bills get paid? Surely someone would have noticed somewhere along the line and raised the alarm? I disagreed, I mentioned a recent incident when my great-aunt and uncle had noticed an elderly lady across their road had her bathroom light on for four days and nights straight, and when the police went to check they found her dead in the bathroom. Life, they say, has a strange ironic way to it. Over the past week we've grown concerned for my uncle who lives in Catford, London. He normally sends a Christmas card and a birthday card for myself up, even though he's not a very rich man (quite the opposite) and we had received neither. Our concern grew when we spoke to my great-aunt and she mentioned that he hadn't cashed a cheque which she sent to him for Christmas. Now, a poor man not cashing a cheque? We asked a friend of my mothers who lives not far from Catford to check on him, so she went there and knocked on the door, no answer, and no-one in the block of flats had seen him for a while. We spoke to our next door neighbour who is a counselor and she recommended asking the police to do a Welfare check on him. The police went to his place and knocked, no answer. So, the next step was for the police to seek entry to the place, and by now we were having a horrible feeling what they would find. Sure enough, later that day we got a visit from one of our local policemen who had received a missive from Catford police to say that they had found the body of my uncle in the bathroom of his flat. He had been there since the beginning of December it would seem, judging by the mail by his door and his state of decay is such that it is not possible to judge the cause of death. We hope and pray that it was a swift and painless one and not suicide. However nothing can be ruled out as he was a troubled man whose life had given him its own fair share of curb kicks. The post mortem is still underway and there will likely be an inquest into his death but I can't help but feel sorry for the poor officers who went into that flat and found his body, it can't have been a nice experience for them and we have rung Catford police to ask the inspector to pass on our thanks, unfortunately we can't actually thank them by name as it's not permitted for them to give out the details. It is a strange and sad world when a man or woman can die and lay un-noticed in their flat or house for such a period of time, if it had not been for the sending of cards and letters periodically then we would have been none the wiser and his body would most likely still be there. In this day and age of instant communication, instant messaging, forums and email, we are closer together than ever before and yet at the same time it seems, more alone than ever before.