system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: why , when someone is badly burnt do they die? What causes the body to say ok this is too much- while extremely painful- what's actually causing death in this or similar situations??
gpt
Burns are extremely good at inflicting lasting trauma that people can't recover from. Basically, there are two reasons:

1. Burns take away skin, which is your most important defense against infection. A third degree burn over any significant percentage of the body will leave you open to massive systemic infection.

2. Really severe burns also burden your kidneys (and possibly your liver, but don't quote me on this) with what amounts to a bunch of charred flesh in the bloodstream. This can screw up your kidneys to the point that it kills you, all by itself, but even if it doesn't finish you off, it can present a giant problem: if a patient's kidneys are barely functioning, you can't give them most pain drugs, as well as anything else that puts stress on the kidneys.