Dr Roger Byard reveals ‘lonely death’ trend hitting South Australian men hardest

New research shines a grim new light on a hidden problem that experts say has grown 10-fold.

Pathologist Roger Byard. Picture Matt Turner.

The number of people dying socially isolated that it takes several months to discover their bodies has risen ten-fold in South Australia in the past 20 years, new research shows.

Analysis by renowned forensic pathologist, Dr Roger Byard AO, comparing autopsies found an “significant increase” in the number of decomposed bodies of people aged 60 and above presenting to forensic autopsy over the past two decades.

He found that three of the men’s bodies taken to SA forensic pathology between 2019-23 took so long to be discovered in their homes their bodies had completely mummified, while another had skeletonised.

Dr Byard, who holds Marks Chair of Pathology at the University of Adelaide and is a Senior Specialist Forensic Pathologist at Forensic Science SA, said he wanted to explore the extent of the phenomenon in Japan called kodokushi.

It’s where ‘a person dies without being cared for by anyone, and whose body is found after a certain period’ and where “the extent of decomposition can be used as a surrogate marker for social isolation.”

His research found that 78 per cent of the South Australians who died were men that had passed away from natural causes.

The biggest cause of death was heart disease.

Dr Byard said that the trend showed “an increasing number of socially isolated elders in our population.”

He said there is one case among the cohort of Diogenes Syndrome - also known as senile squalor syndrome, is a disorder characterised by extreme self-neglect, domestic squalor, social withdrawal and apathy.

“Such cases are often problematic as the scene is chaotic with post mortem domestic (dog) and wild (rodent) animal predation,” he wrote.

Dr Byard said the trend showed “an increasing number of socially isolated elders in our population.”

Originally published as Dr Roger Byard reveals ‘lonely death’ trend hitting South Australian men hardest