A coastal city in Los Angeles County, El Segundo has a current population of about 17,000 people. A recent, major development in El Segundo is the opening of the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine.
The Institute offers state of the art cancer diagnostics and treatment. In announcing the opening of the Institute, its founder, Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, stated:
“We believe that 21st-century treatment of patients with cancer does not need to be toxic or painful, and metastases does not need to be fatal. The paradigm of high dose chemotherapy and debilitating high dose radiation must be changed as the standard of care, and this state of the art center will enable clinicians to validate treatment approaches that protect rather than harm the patient’s immune system. We have to harness the most powerful defense against this deadly disease: the body’s own immune system.”
Immediately upon opening its doors in El Segundo, the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine welcomes participants into a pancreatic cancer vaccine trial. Trials for other tumor types will be underway soon, according to the Institute.
The cancer rate in El Segunda is comparable to the remainder of the United States. In 2018, approximately 1,735,350 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed across the country, according to the National Cancer Institute. About 609,640 people will die from cancer during that time period. This equates to about 43 new cases of cancer in El Segunda during the coming year.
Unattended Death in El Segunda: Dying Alone From Cancer and for Other Reasons
When it comes to cancer deaths in El Segunda, some of these occur in a situation that is termed an unattended death. This does not mean that no doctor was on hand at the time a person died from cancer. Rather, it means that an individual died from this disease alone and his or her remains were not discovered for an extended period of time – days, weeks, or even months.
An unattended cancer death occurs in El Segunda in one of two more common ways. First, a person dies alone from cancer, never having been officially diagnosed with the disease. Second, a person may have had a cancer diagnosis, but it may have come at a juncture at which there was little to do in the way of treatment. In other words, the disease had progressed that the main objective became pain management more than anything else.
In either of these two scenarios, individuals afflicted with cancer have no one in their lives that have regular contact with them. Thus, they end up dying alone and their bodies are not promptly discovered (As an aside, this is more likely to occur to a person who has not been diagnosed with cancer. A patient undergoing pain management should have at least some regular contact with a healthcare professional and his or her absence should be recognized sooner.)
In light of the founding of the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine in El Segunda, cancer is the focus of this examination of an unattended death. With that said, there are other common reasons underpinning an El Segunda unattended death that include:
- Suicide
- Homicide
- Accident
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Other diseases
Grief Therapy and Supportive Resources in El Segunda
In the aftermath of an unattended death, family members and others may experience that grief heavily compounded by guilt. These individuals are guilty because they were not around when the person passed on and didn’t even realize the individual had passed until what may have amounted to a considerable amount of time.
There are bereavement support groups that serve people in and around El Segunda, including people that are grieving the loss of someone else (including in a situation in which the deceased passed away in an unattended death situation).
Grieving Group – Support for Healing thru Loss
Biohazard Cleanup and an Unattended Death
In addition to dealing with grief, an immediate issue that needs to be addressed following an unattended death is what technically is known as a biohazard cleanup. Because of the nature of the human decomposition process, when the remains of a person who died an unattended death are discovered, hazardous biological pathogens are going to be an issue.
The wise course is engaging the services of a biohazard cleanup specialist. Obtaining a professional ensures that an unattended death cleanup is thorough and comprehensive. It also makes sure that a biohazard cleanup is safely undertaken.
The unattended death cleanup can commence directly after the El Segundo Police Department completes its own investigation of the scene. This typically is done in a matter of a couple of hours, barring any complications.