Until death do us apart ?

I know many old couples, my relatives included, after one of them dying, the spouse died within a year. It turned out that anything that is really physically, or mentally disabling to you, it is also harmful for your partner. A recent study (Reuters, Feb. 15) by Nicholas A. Christakis (Harvard Medical School) found that a man's risk of dying increases 22% if his spouse is hospitalized, and woman's risk rises by 16% in the reverse situation.