Instructions for completing the cause-of-death section of the death certificate for injury and poisoning (usually completed by a medical examiner or coroner)

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Center for Health Statistics (U.S.)
• Description:
  Red form
  
  Accurate cause-of-death information is important: 1) to the public health community in evaluating and improving the health of all citizens, and 2) often to the family, now and in the future, and to the person settling the decedent's estate.
  
  The cause-of-death section consists of two parts. Part I is for reporting a chain of morbid events leading directly to death, with the immediate cause of death (the final disease, injury, or complication directly causing death) on Line a and the underlying cause of death (the disease or injury that initiated the chain of events that led directly and inevitably to death) on the lowest used line. Part II is for reporting all other significant diseases, conditions, or injuries that contributed to death but which did not result in the underlying cause of death given in Part I. The cause-of-death information should be YOUR best medical OPINION. A condition can be listed as “probable” even if it has not been definitively diagnosed.
  
  CDC-INFO Pub No. 220725
  
  
• Content Notes:
  220725
• Subjects:
  Accidents/mortality Cause Of Death Death Certificates Poisoning Vital Statistics
• Document Type:
  Pamphlet (or booklet)
• Genre:
  Forms
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Pages in Document:
  2 Pages
• Collection(s):
  National Center for Health Statistics
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1eab0fdad5f623c881f7cf52621520e340b47a6c31da5c84d7305e9b0d0b648b876fa84103d6313f1e31d7bea526902ea3b2b74511ab0506ed919ae771c250d3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/22418/cdc_22418_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 82.00 KB ]