The table below defines the medical terms I came across when looking at death records and obituaries. Many of these terms are outdated and no longer in use.
| Term | Definition |
| Apoplexy | Paralysis due to stroke. |
| Bright's Disease | Chronic inflammatory disease of the kidneys. |
| Cholecystitis | Inflammation of the gall bladder. |
| Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease | A rare, fatal brain disorder, which causes a rapid, progressive dementia and associated neuromuscular disturbances. The disease is named after Drs. Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt and Alfons Jakob, who documented the first cases of this illness in the 1920's. |
| Dropsy | Dropsy is an outmoded term for generalized edema (fluid collection in body tissues). In the past, many people were certified as dead "due to dropsy". Dropsy is not itself a disease, but merely a sign of malfunction in the body (especially congestive heart failure or kidney disease). |
| Fatty liver | Cirrhosis of liver. |
| Felo de se | A Latin phrase meaning "evildoer upon himself", or simply a suicide. |
| Huntington's Disease | A genetic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the gradual development of involuntary muscle movements affecting the hands, feet, face, and trunk and progressive deterioration of cognitive processes and memory (dementia). |
| Paralysis | Stroke. |
| St. Vitus' Dance | A nervous disorder closely associated with rheumatic fever, and characterized by rapid, jerky, involuntary movements of the body. |
| Stroke | A stroke occurs when a blood vessel (artery) that supplies blood to the brain bursts or is blocked by a blood clot. Within minutes, the nerve cells in that area of the brain become damaged and die. As a result, the part of the body controlled by the damaged section of the brain cannot function properly. |