> In the United States it is estimated that the rate of major errors (eg, incorrect cause of death [CoD], incorrect manner of death) found on death certificates completed at academic institutions is approximately 33% to 40%. Internationally, this rate at some hospitals rises as high as 80%
> A wealth of literature is available highlighting the prevalence of death certificate inaccuracy seen at the national and international levels, as well as multiple studies that indicate lack of training as the root cause in the United States. Despite these noted errors, death certificate data continue to inform research pathways and drive medical practice.
> natural cause of death reports are known to have a 20 percent to 60 percent inaccuracy rate according to the peer-reviewed literature.
> The system isn’t built to allow for investigation. In fact, in the state where I worked, doctors are supposed to provide causes of death within 15 hours of the death
> 30 percent of doctors have reported being instructed by the coroner to put an inaccurate cause of death on purpose so the [coroner's] office won’t need to take the case.
> When I worked as a death certificate clerk, I occasionally would send death certificate worksheets to multiple doctors involved in a patient’s care if we had a rush to bury or cremate. In these situations we needed to cast a wider net to find a rapidly responding doctor to finish the record before final disposition. Many times each physician would report an entirely different cause of death.
Death certificates and cause-of-death attribution mainly exist to satisfy procedural requirements, not because they're supposed to be informative or helpful. Courts need to do cause-of-death attribution. It can't be done. So they solve their problem by the very simple method of pretending they can do it anyway. (Courts take this approach everywhere, not just in death certificates. Drug dogs, accounting errors, expert testimony...)
Does it? As far as I know, not only are they happy to admit that they can't do it, efforts to try have mostly ceased. We used to do autopsies.
https://www.todaysgeriatricmedicine.com/archive/SO17p26.shtm...
> In the United States it is estimated that the rate of major errors (eg, incorrect cause of death [CoD], incorrect manner of death) found on death certificates completed at academic institutions is approximately 33% to 40%. Internationally, this rate at some hospitals rises as high as 80%
> A wealth of literature is available highlighting the prevalence of death certificate inaccuracy seen at the national and international levels, as well as multiple studies that indicate lack of training as the root cause in the United States. Despite these noted errors, death certificate data continue to inform research pathways and drive medical practice.
https://americanmind.org/salvo/a-covid-death-the-bureaucracy...
> natural cause of death reports are known to have a 20 percent to 60 percent inaccuracy rate according to the peer-reviewed literature.
> The system isn’t built to allow for investigation. In fact, in the state where I worked, doctors are supposed to provide causes of death within 15 hours of the death
> 30 percent of doctors have reported being instructed by the coroner to put an inaccurate cause of death on purpose so the [coroner's] office won’t need to take the case.
> When I worked as a death certificate clerk, I occasionally would send death certificate worksheets to multiple doctors involved in a patient’s care if we had a rush to bury or cremate. In these situations we needed to cast a wider net to find a rapidly responding doctor to finish the record before final disposition. Many times each physician would report an entirely different cause of death.
Death certificates and cause-of-death attribution mainly exist to satisfy procedural requirements, not because they're supposed to be informative or helpful. Courts need to do cause-of-death attribution. It can't be done. So they solve their problem by the very simple method of pretending they can do it anyway. (Courts take this approach everywhere, not just in death certificates. Drug dogs, accounting errors, expert testimony...)