When somebody dies of cancer, what exactly is the actual reason the body stops working?

Question

When somebody dies of cancer, what exactly is the actual reason the body stops working?

In: 1666

Answer 1

The cancer cells have overwhelmed some vital organ and crushed or starved it until it gets horribly infected or can no longer function.

Exactly what the failure mode is will vary case by case, depending on the type of cancer and how it has metastasized.

We typically list the root cause (cancer) on the death certificate and not whatever secondary infection or organ failure actually pushed them over the edge.