Scientifically, what's the worst way to die?

The answer I found is not an easy pill to swallow. You’re not going to like it.

Before we get to the nitty-gritty, it’s helpful to characterize what “ways” to die actually means. When a person dies, a physician or medical examiner fills out a death certificate that indicates three things, according to Kevin Henderson, a coroner for Ontario County, New York: the cause, mechanism, and manner of death. While each of these elements can have cringe-worthy parts, I’m going to focus mostly on the cause of death.

“The cause of death is the disease or injury that produces the physiological disruption inside the body resulting in death; for example, a gunshot wound to the chest,” Henderson said. These causes are what populate our deepest fears. It’s the difference between being afraid of drowning versus being afraid of the oxygen deprivation, inhaled water, and contracted circulation that would actually kill you, or even the fact that you didn’t know how to swim.