Old woman dies of malnutrition
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar | Fri, 10/08/2010 9:49 AM
An 80-year-old woman was found dead, with malnutrition believed to be the cause, in her home in Pannampu subdistrict in Makassar, South Sulawesi, one of the country’s top rice producers.
The woman was believed to have died three to seven days earlier when her decomposing body was found by a village security officer Tuesday.
The woman’s husband, Daeng Ali, said he was aware that his wife had died but did not have the money for a decent funeral.
“I locked her remains in a room and went to find money for the funeral,” the 81-year-old said.
Daeng Ali supported himself and his wife by working as a scalper and worker at nearby Pannampu traditional market. At times, neighbors provided the family food.
The couple, who did not have children or other family members, lived in a shack where its floor is submerged in water from the neighborhood’s domestic waste.
There is one old bed with a dirty mattress in the house and a cabinet made of triplex wood, along with humble kitchen appliances.
Officials said they found it difficult to gather information related to the death of Daeng Ona from her husband as he did not speak clearly and was believed to suffer mental illness.
“His wife’s health probably worsened due to lack of proper treatment,” Mauluddin, a forensic doctor at the Makassar Police’s Bhayangkara hospital, said.
Mauluddin said the postmortem examination result showed no traces of inflicted violence on Ona’s body.
“We found that she suffered from serious malnutrition. She had no fat at all, only bones and skin.
“She might have died because of complications from some acute diseases and old age,” he said.
Yet, he said the diseases could not be detected since no autopsy was carried out, only an outer postmortem examination.
Makassar Police chief Adj. Comr. Ahmad Maryadi confirmed that Ona’s body was decomposing saying the flesh was rotting.
“We directly evacuated the body to the hospital for a postmortem examination to determine the cause of death,” he said.
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