i'm so sorry you lost your dad. i lost my dad a couple of years ago. i completely understand your wanting answers about how he died. perhaps the best answer is this: medicine doesn't know everything. we can't keep people from dying. it's no comfort to know that but it's true. from a pathophysiology standpoint i can tell you this: if your dad had metastases (spread of the cancer) on his liver the chances are good he had them elsewhere including the lungs. a doctor once described cancer to me this way: it's similar to starting a row of dominoes tumbling. once cells turn cancerous in one place they begin to turn cancerous in many other places in a domino effect. that means your dad may have had metastases to his lungs and other vital organs as well as his liver. how did the gangrene occur? well i can't tell you that exactly. gangrene is an infection and infections definitely can occur without any wounds. fluid build-up can cause an infection. gangrene may have been the cause of your father's death but another likely culprit is sepsis. sepsis occurs when an infection overwhelms the body's immune system and shuts down all the organs. sepsis frequently is the cause of death in people with pneumonia and other conditions. i'm sorry you feel the hospital allowed your father to languish. i'm sorry he passed away. i hope you are proud that he fought until the very end. i wish i had answers for you. i wish i could take the pain away. i hope you know i sincerely share your pain over this loss. my sympathy to you and your family.
i have a question about what happened to my dad. he died on 11/7 from a gangrene infection. . he had colon cancer (stage iv)with a small tumor in the intestine (no blockage) and several metastases on his liver. he had been taking chemo with avastin. we took him to the hospital because he had shortness of breath turned out he had fluid in his lungs and abdomen. how did the gangrene occur? does the fluid block circulation? and why didn't the hospital notice a severe infection like that? how does a person who had no wounds get gangrene and why they would just let him languish?