Estate Planning

What Are We Dying From?

By Hull and Hull LLP

As noted in a recent article in the Huffington Post, your chances of dying are one in one. However, WHAT you will die from is not so certain.

The article in the Huffington Post, by Dean Praetorius, reports, in pictorial form no less, on the 2010 edition of 'Injury Facts', published by the National Safety Council, out of the U.S. The National Safety Council report provides the lifetime odds of death for selected causes of death for the U.S. in 2006. These odds are as follows:

Heart disease: 1 in 6
Cancer: 1 in 7
Stroke: 1 in 28
Motor vehicle accidents: 1 in 85
Intentional self harm: 1 in 115
Accidental poisoning/noxious substances: 1 in 139
Falls: 1 in 184
Car occupant: 1 in 272
Assault by firearms: 1 in 300
Pedestrian: 1 in 623
Motorcycle rider: 1 in 802
Accidental drowning: 1 in 1,073
Exposure to smoke, fire: 1 in 1,235
Bicycle accidents: 1 in 4,147
Air and space transport accidents: 1 in 5,862
Firearms discharge: 1 in 5,981
Exposure to excessive natural heat: 1 in 6,174
Exposure to electric current, radiation, temperature and pressure: 1 in 9,412
Cataclysmic storm: 1 in 51,199
Hornets, wasps, bees: 1 in 62,950
Lightning: 1 in 81,701
Dog bite/attack: 1 in 119,998
Earthquake: 1 in 153,597

Be careful out there. We may not be able to beat the odds, but hopefully we can delay the payout as long as possible.

Paul Trudelle

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on February 15, 2011 (boomark / email).