Death Certification

A major common denominator in any modern death investigation system is

the documentation of death and the determination of its cause and manner,

also referred to as death certification. In early times, records of birth and

death were kept inconsistently, if at all, but in 1538, clergy in England were A major common denominator in any modern death investigation system is

the documentation of death and the determination of its cause and manner,

also referred to as death certification. In early times, records of birth and

death were kept inconsistently, if at all, but in 1538, clergy in England were death investigation systems

 function of governments instead of the church. This change was given further

 impetus during infectious epidemics of the nineteenth century, when it came

to be appreciated that it would be worthwhile to keep track of the numbers

of deaths occurring as an infectious contagion progressed.18 Subsequently,

governments around the world began to require registration and certification

of births and deaths. Modern death certification is a function of state

governments, and all jurisdictions in the United States have a common

requirement that the death of a person be officially documented, with attestation

of the cause and manner of death by a physician, medical examiner,

coroner, or other official. The document serving this purpose is referred to as

a death certificate, and requirements regarding its use and filing are set forth

by a state department of health, vital records, or equivalent.28 State deathcertificates tend to be fairly similar, as most are based on the U.S. Standard

Certificate of Death, which is in turn based on World Health Organization

recommendations. A typical state death certificate is shown in Table 4.2.

Many states are also moving toward a standardized digital death registration

process that promises to make gathering of demographic and epidemiologic

data much simpler and more effective.