My 80 year old father in law got the flu suddenly and in a slightly delerious state slept on one arm for the whole night. In the morning my mother in law realized how sick he was and got him to an emergency room right away. Within a day and some fluids he was dealing with the flu okay but his arm being crushed under him like that apparantly caused his fingers to atrophy (overnight!) and a couple had to be amputated. Then he died the next day due to kidney failure, also somehow linked to the arm crushing. In the space of 2 days he want from healthy to invalid amputee to expired.
When you are in your 80s or more there are no illnesses which are a cake walk.