The cause of her death was not unusual; thousands of people died of the same cause that year and also in previous years. Her death was exceptional because she was the last person ever to die from that cause in the United States.
Old age.
No American has died of old age since 1951. Old age was “cured” at a Public Health Conference on Records and Statistics. All state and federal agencies were ordered to adopt a standard list of 130 contributing and underlying causes of death. In 1951, the list deleted “old age” as a cause of death.
There is still some debate over whether old age is an appropriate cause of death. If someone dies peacefully in their sleep at age 95, one or several organs may have shut down, but isn’t the underlying cause old age?
Source…