Let the dead teach the living

Last Monday, the Havre Daily News published an article reporting a driver killed by a collision with a deer. As unfortunate as this death was, the article was a grim reminder of what is not published — the unreported causes of death in the Havre community.

The Havre Daily News does not appear to hesitate to report deaths related to traffic accidents, but in my daily reading and in a search of the online archives there is very little mention of the other top causes of death in our younger population.

Inspection of the reported cause of death in Montana for 2014 reveals that for people between 15 and 24 years of age, the leading causes of death are traffic accidents and suicide. (I should note that most traffic fatalities in this region are single-car rollovers caused by high speed.) For people between 25 and 34 the leading causes of death are traffic accidents, suicide and drug overdoses. For people 35 and 44 years of age, the leading causes of death are suicide, traffic accidents, and drug overdoses followed by heart disease then liver disease. As people age, heart disease becomes more prevalent, and between 45 to 55 years of age, heart disease is the most common cause, followed by suicide, liver disease, traffic accidents, alcohol and then drug overdoses. Between ages 55 and 64 the fourth and fifth-most common causes of death are suicide and liver disease.

When people of all ages are considered, suicide kills more than twice as many as breast cancer, traffic accidents kill nearly one and a half as many people as breast cancer, liver disease (most but not all of which is from excessive drinking) as many people as breast cancer, and suicide half as many people as breast cancer. Put into raw numbers, in 2014 in the state of Montana, suicide, traffic accidents, liver failure, alcohol poisoning and drug overdoses killed 684 people, while breast cancer killed 131. If you consider that the causes I listed affect predominately younger people, the number of years of life lost because of these causes gives them a bigger impact on Montana than would appear from just the numbers of people killed. The number of people killed by these problems is only the small tip of a very large iceberg. Most severely depressed people do not commit suicide, most reckless driving does not result in a traffic fatality, and most drug and alcohol abuse does not kill — at least not right away. Public service announcements of “Don’t drink and drive” or “Wear your seat belt” or “Call suicide prevention” or “Just say no to drugs,” do not communicate the scope and depth of the problem Havre and surrounding communities have with drinking, drugs, depression and dangerous driving (usually without a seat belt and under the influence of some drug).

The obituaries published in the Havre Daily News are eulogies written and paid for by the estate of deceased, and many will not describe or hint at the cause of death. A large number of Hill County citizens, especially the youth, “pass away quietly at home” — when the truth is they died with a needle in their arm or a noose around their neck. It is unreasonable to expect the private obituaries to tell the sad truth.

I can speculate that some of the failure of the Havre Daily News to report these causes of death may be fueled by concerns for the sensitivity of next of kin, or the several-week time that drugs tests may take when run through laboratories, or the need for the confidentiality of data in a pending criminal investigation. However, if the most basic information about the state of public health is withheld from the citizens of Havre, how can they be expected to act as an informed community to solve the problem?

The true causes of death should be reported — and the innocent readers (if there are any left) should wince at every unnecessary death. If the Havre Daily News does not want to associate a cause of death with a particular individual, it should at least publish a monthly summary. Covering up the problems out of a concern for offending feelings does not justify obscuring the truth. Let the dead teach the living. I hope the living are willing to listen.

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Marc M Whitacre, M.D.

Ward 3 candidate for Havre City Council