nizo's Journal: New term needed: "fadeaways"

Article here (full article below)

Authorities Investigating Whether Bones Found In N.Y. Home Are Remains Of Elderly Woman
AP - 3/11/2007 1:35 PM - Updated 3/11/2007 4:53 PM

NEW YORK (AP) Authorities are trying to determine if a pile of bones found in a Bronx home are those of a woman who apparently went missing four years ago.

Little is known about what happened to 83-year-old Florence Bock. When a cleaning crew came to the home where she once lived last week, they discovered the remains _ a pile of bones, including a skull, lying next to a cane.

The house was purchased recently by a developer, police said.

The city medical examiner's office was working to make an identification. The cause of death was listed as undetermined, said spokeswoman Ellen Borakove. She said anthropologists would review the bones.

The sad thing is this isn't new, but seems to be a disturbing trend in modern society. A quick search of the net turned up at least a dozen such cases in the past few years, such as the cases of Jim Sulker of Winnipeg and an unidentified retired college professor in Vienna; in both cases their automatically deposited pensions paid automatically deducted expenses from checking accounts for years before their bodies were discovered. I propose the term "fadeaways" (much like castaways or runaways) be used to describe people like this; we need some kind of term since I suspect that sadly this will become more and more common.

Kinda sad.

[Shadow Wrought]

I think fadeaway is good term. To be so alone than that no one notices when you die is pretty sad. But I also sometimes wonder if they either cultivated their condition, or if they maybe really did just not like people.

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[nizo]

I think many of them just have lost touch with family members, and are too old to really get out and be with people. One old lady got boarded up in her home when the county reposessed her house (it looks like she had already been dead when it happened, but hell who knows; no one actually checked the house first). Her son (who had lived with her fairly recently) acted all suprised when they contacted him to let him know later. Some of them certainly were reclusive, but I dunno if they would all fit in that c

My ex is worried she will die alone

[WillAffleckUW]

and noone will know - so she made me promise on her 47th birthday, that if she didn't answer a phone call or send us an email or phone when we were expecting to hear from her, that we would drive over to her apartment and have our son open the door to make sure she didn't die in her sleep or in a bathtub.

A friend of hers had her mom die - and she found her 5 days later (not fun, if you know anything about dead bodies and what it's like).

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[Billosaur]

On a slightly different note, there was the recent report of a Beaumont, TX man found dead in his home 18 months after Hurricane Rita [cbsnews.com]. Turns out everyone in the neighborhood thought he had evacuated then never returned. The body was discovered by someone buying the "abandoned" home. Apparently this guy had estranged his family, and they never went to check up on him.

It's sad really - 9/11 should have taught everyone that you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, and it's a good idea to keep in tou

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[tomhudson]

1. "Fade-aways" has my vote.

2. This is one more reason to own a dog* - hopefully they'll bark up a storm if something is wrong with you (and again, hopefully BEFORE you assume room temperature).

* ( balanced out by coming home tonight and seeing yet another comforter with holes chewed into it ... and I'm not looking forward to the possibility of having to spend over $5k to get Heidi's hop repaired eitheer ... )

I'm going to vote no on the dog

[Degrees]

One of the more gruesome things that happened while I was working at the Health Department was an elderly lady that faded away in a remote country home. It was the dogs all barking at each other that got the neighbors to call Animal Control. But the dogs were howling because some of them had been with the lady 10-15 years; and others, far less, with hunger overcoming their ... honor (?)

So if you might be considered a fade-away candidate, I'm going to suggest outside animals, or an inside bird.

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[nizo]

Or maybe a chimp smart enough to dial 911 :-)

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[Degrees]

Now you're talking. I wonder if the EMT's know to bring bananas though.

Seriously though, I expect that in eight years we will have electronic agents in the home that will be able to figure out that "it isn't normal sleep cycle time, and the person hasn't moved in one hour. Time to turn off the TV and see if the person complains."

Or something like that.

It will get a little annoying, like the kids in the back seat of the car (except it will be your house talking to you): are you dead yet? are you dead yet?

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[nizo]

...are you dead yet? are you dead yet? are you dead yet?...

hehehe

I suspect the question will be more subtle however :-) I wonder how cheap rfid is yet, or what inexpensive tracking technology is available, or will be available soon?

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[Degrees]

RFID will be cheap enough, but I don't know that my mom would want to wear a bracelet (or whatever) just so the tech could track her. I do think that in eight years (maybe six) that video cameras + primitive AI will be cheap enough that you could blanket a home site and be able to pick up on "abnormal" behavior (both inside and outside the building). My mom would be more likely to let me wire her home with video everywhere (except her bathroom) so that I could check in on her. My boss has this problem with