The phrase
death certificate can describe either a document issued by a medical practitioner certifying the deceased state of a person or popularly to a document issued by a person such as a registrar of
vital statisticsVital statistics are the information maintained by a government, recording the birth and death of individuals within that government's jurisdiction. These data are used by public health programs to evaluate how effective their programs are...
that declares the date, location and
causeCause of Death is a 1990 album by American death metal band Obituary. Cause of Death is considered a classic album in the history of death metal. The artwork was done by artist Michael Whelan...
of a person's
deathDeath is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
as later entered in an official register of deaths.
Nature of a certificate
Each governmental jurisdiction prescribes the form of the document for use in its preview and the procedures necessary to legally produce it. One purpose of the certificate is to review the cause of death to determine if foul-play occurred it also can rule out an accidental death or a murder going by the findings and ruling of the medical examiner. It may also be required in order to arrange a burial or cremation, to provide prima facie evidence of the fact of death, which can be used to prove a person's will or to claim on a person's life insurance. Lastly, death certificates are used in
public healthPublic health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
to compile data on
leading causes of death among other statistics (See:
Descriptive statisticsDescriptive statistics quantitatively describe the main features of a collection of data. Descriptive statistics are distinguished from inferential statistics , in that descriptive statistics aim to summarize a data set, rather than use the data to learn about the population that the data are...
)
Before issuing a death certificate, the authorities usually require a certificate from a
physicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
or
coronerA coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
to validate the
cause of deathCause of Death is a 1990 album by American death metal band Obituary. Cause of Death is considered a classic album in the history of death metal. The artwork was done by artist Michael Whelan...
and the identity of the deceased. In cases where it is not completely clear that a person is dead (usually because their body is being sustained by
life supportLife support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
), a
neurologistA neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
is often called in to verify
brain deathBrain death is the irreversible end of all brain activity due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of brain oxygenation. It should not be confused with a persistent vegetative state...
and to fill out the appropriate documentation. The failure of a physician to immediately submit the required form to the government (to trigger issuance of the death certificate) is often both a
crimeCrime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
and cause for loss of one's license to practice. This is because of past scandals in which dead people continued to receive public benefits or voted in elections.
Death certificates may also be issued pursuant to a court order or an
executive orderExecutive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
in the case of individuals who have been declared
dead in absentiaDeath in absentia is a legal declaration that a person is deceased in the absence of remains attributable to that person...
.
Missing personA missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....
s and victims of mass disasters (such as the sinking of the
RMS LusitaniaRMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
) may be issued death certificates in one of these manners.
In some jurisdictions, a
police officerA police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
or a
paramedicA paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
may be allowed to sign a death certificate under specific circumstances. This is usually when the cause of death seems obvious and no foul play is suspected, such as in extreme old age. In such cases, an
autopsyAn autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
is rarely performed. This varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction; in some areas police officers may sign death certificates for victims of
SIDSSudden infant death syndrome is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history, and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation. An infant is at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep, which is why it is sometimes...
, but in others all deaths of individuals under 18 must be certified by a physician. Accident deaths where there is no chance of survival (decapitations, for instance) may be certified by police or paramedics, but autopsies are still commonly performed if there is any chance that alcohol or drugs played a role in the accident.
The Shipman case
In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, in 2000, the
serial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Doctor
Harold ShipmanHarold Fredrick Shipman was an English doctor and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him....
was found to have issued false medical certificates of death, which resulted in death certificates being issued for his victims, without the suspicious circumstances of their deaths coming to light. Following the public enquiry into that case, all medical certificates of death (except those issued in respect of individuals dead in absentia) must now be validated by an independent medical examiner.
Public documents
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, death certificates are considered public domain documents and can therefore be obtained for any individual regardless of the requester's relationship to the deceased. Other jurisdictions take a different view, and restrict the issue of certificates.
In the United States, certificates issued to the general public for deaths after 1990 may in some states be redacted to erase the specific cause of death (in cases where death was from natural causes) to comply with
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
confidentialityConfidentiality is an ethical principle associated with several professions . In ethics, and in law and alternative forms of legal resolution such as mediation, some types of communication between a person and one of these professionals are "privileged" and may not be discussed or divulged to...
rules. In New York State, for instance, the cause of death on a general death certificate is only specified if death was accidental, homicide, suicide, or declared
in absentiaDeath in absentia is a legal declaration that a person is deceased in the absence of remains attributable to that person...
; all other deaths are only referred to as "natural". All states have provisions, however, whereby immediate family members, law enforcement agencies, and governmental authorities (such as occupational health and safety groups) are able to obtain death certificates containing the full cause of death, even in cases of natural death.
In some cases, such as the death of a minor or infant, certificates may be kept confidential from the public as requested by legal guardian and therefore cannot be obtained by the general public but rather through immediate family members.
United Kingdom
Registration in the UK is organised separately in the constituent jurisdictions. A register of deaths contains the information supplied by an informant, nowadays usually containing and repeating the information given in a
Medical Certificate of Death (MCOD) supplied by the medical practitioner who certifies that life is extinct, this being the real "death certificate" distinct from the "registration of a death" in a register. Further information might be added after the first registration if the death was the subject of an inquest (Northern Ireland or England and Wales) or a
Fatal Accident InquiryA fatal accident inquiry is a Scottish judicial process which investigates and determines the circumstances of some deaths occurring in Scotland...
(Scotland); this can result in a later copy of a death registration giving more details of the cause of death or the associated circumstances.
England and Wales
In England and Wales, compulsory national registration of deaths began in 1837. Originally the death registration listed when and where a person died, their name and surname, the parent or parents (if the deceased was a child), sex, age, occupation, cause of death, the description and residence of the informant, when the death was registered and the registrars signature. Further details have since been recorded including the deceased's date and place of birth, maiden surnames and other former surnames of women who have been divorced.
Beginning in 1879, a doctor’s certificate was necessary for the issuance of a death certificate (prior to that, no cause of death needed to be given).
Northern Ireland
The form of indexing and the layout of register pages generally follows that of England and Wales.
Scotland
National registration began in 1855; registrations are rather more detailed than in England and Wales. In the first year of registration many more details than in later years were recorded including the children of the deceased with their ages, the deceased's birthplace and how long they were resident in the district where they died. The burial place was recorded from 1855 to 1860. Standard details have until now included the deceased's name, age, marital status, spouse(s) (if any), details of both parents, cause of death and the informant's description. Current (2011) registrations show the date of birth. The prescribed forms are part of secondary legislation and those for recent years can thus be seen online in the
Statute Law Database.
Unlike England and Wales, information is not limited to being supplied in the form of certified copies; original register pages (or filmed images) can be viewed in person at local registrars or at the General Register Office in Edinburgh, online (fees apply) on the
Scotlands People website or in microfilms (1855-1875, 1881, 1891) available at family history centres operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
United Kingdom Crown Possessions
These jurisdictions do not form part of the United Kingdom and each has its own registration system. Their older records tend to follow the layout used in England and Wales.
England and Wales
StillbirthA stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
s (beyond 24 weeks gestation) have been registered since 1927 in a register that is closed from public access. A single stillbirth registration takes the place of both birth and death registration for the stillborn infant. Prior to 1960 such certificates gave no cause of death.
Stillbirth certificates can only be ordered by the mother or father of the deceased contacting the General Register Office by phone or letter. In the event of the parents both having died, an adult sibling can order the certificate if they can provide the dates of death for both parents.
Scotland
Registration of still-births commenced in 1939. The registers are not open to public view and extracts are only issued "in exceptional circumstances" .
United States
A 2007 article in
PeopleIn 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine revealed that in the case of a stillbirth it is not standard practice to issue both a
birth certificateA birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
and a death certificate. Most states instead issue a "certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth".
See also
- Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
- Ghosting (identity theft)
Ghosting is a form of identity theft in which someone steals the identity, and sometimes even the role within society, of a specific dead person who is not widely known to be deceased...
- Marriage licence
- Marriage certificate
In some jurisdictions a marriage certificate is the official record that two people have undertaken a marriage ceremony. This does include jurisdictions where marriage licenses do not exist...
- Mortality Medical Data System
The Mortality Medical Data System is used to automate the entry, classification, and retrieval of cause-of-death information reported on death certificates throughout the United States and in many other countries...
(MMDS)
External links
- Mortality Data from the U.S. National Vital Statistics System - See Methods - Data collection - for copies of death certificates and how to fill them.
- Magrane BP, Gilliland MGF, and King DE. Certification of Death by Family Physicians. American Family Physician 1997 Oct 1;56(5):1433-8. PMID 9337765
- Swain GR, Ward GK, Hartlaub PP. Death certificates: Let's get it right. American Family Physician February 15, 2005 PMID 15742904
- Find Free Death Records gives details on how to apply for death records in each state.
- Online Death Indexes and Records lists some online death certificate indexes
- Where to Write for Vital Records (including Death Certificates) from the National Center for Health Statistics