they're droppin' like flies, I tells ya!
No kidding--the number of celebrity deaths (or at least notable figures) has taken a big spike in the last month.
Greg Edwards of CGSS had a theory about there being more deaths in December (he expounded about this when James Brown died at Xmas): some people just decide they're tired and don't want to face another year -- "I'm done.". There were quite a few celeb deaths last December as well iirc.
ETA: I just checked and there weren't that many in 2007 -- maybe I'm thinking of '06.
Both my paternal grandparents died in Dec. (they also married in Dec. & my grandfather was born 12/30/1899).
The above would certainly apply to my grandmother, who fell & broke her hip on a Friday the 13th, had replacement surgery but expired a week later. Several relatives at the time felt that she was never coming out of the hospital for exactly the reason you gave above, and it seems they were right. She was 69, but seemed more like 89 (I was 11 at the time & barely knew her).
My grandfather, OTOH, was days away from turning 88 when he died in a car accident (he pulled onto US 150 in rural Illinois right in front of a semi that he apparently never saw & died instantly). He was still going strong & could easily have lived well into his 90's, as several of his 16(!) siblings did.
