Noel; a good day to die?

This should be a warning for us; In USA there is a 12% greater risk of dying on December 25 and the following few days than other days in the year -even accounting for winter's seasonal increase in deathrate [those of us who do funerals know about this]. Why might this be so? Two things emerge as most likely consistently from 26 years of data: "people tend to delay seeking care for symptoms. Another is that there are often changes in medical staff during the holidays and, consequently, the quality of medical care might be compromised"
CNN.com - Study: Christmas deadliest day for Americans - Dec 13, 2004