Jocelyn Arceo
Staff Writer
Kelly Niles-Yokum, associate professor of gerontology, and Nikki Shipley, assistant professor of public and health administration, spoke on “A Solitary Death: The Intersection of the Aging Networks and the Phenomenon of Dying Alone in Southern California” Tuesday in the President’s Dining Room.
The discussion focused on the factors that impact a person’s risk of dying alone and possible ways to prevent increases in solitary deaths across the United States.
“The goal is to develop some interventions, programs and services that are related to this,” Niles-Yokum said. “How can we prevent it from happening, or at least minimize the impact of it happening, both in the public sector and the consequences of dealing with someone who dies alone and doesn’t have any next of kin.”
A solitary death is defined as an individual who dies alone in their home and their body is not found for 48 hours or more, Niles-Yokum said. According to the results of their survey, this phenomenon is on the rise, and coroners, medical examiners and funeral directors anticipate more solitary deaths.
“What is important to people is to be independent when they’re older,” Shipley said. “They want to live alone and be independent, yet they have the fear of dying alone.”
These deaths can be traced to the steady increase of single-person households in the United States, comprising 27 percent of the entire population as of 2010, Niles-Yokum said. In the Los Angeles County, there are 200 unattended funerals per month, and around 7,000 people die alone annually, Niles-Yokum added.
“The U.S. is not looking at this, we don’t have interventions, we don’t have programs and services for this,” Kelly said. “Most older adults don’t only fear it, but they’re concerned about who will find them after they die.”
The United Kingdom, Australia and Japan all have interventions and programs in place relating to preventing an increase in solitary death, Niles-Yokum said.
“They are countries that have a strong socialist tradition,” said Al Clark, professor of humanities.
No such programs have been implemented here because the United States more highly values autonomy and independence, Niles-Yokum said.
“We know that more than 21,000 people are dying alone without family or friends and those numbers continue to increase,” Niles-Yokum added.
While living alone increases the risk of dying alone, other factors like smaller families, no children, delaying or deterring marriage, or divorce and widowhood all have an impact, Niles-Yokum said.
Niles-Yokum said that people in this situation have plans, such as checking up on their neighbors by a certain time.
Jocelyn Arceo can be reached at jocelyn.arceo@laverne.edu.
