N C H S - Mortality Data - Possible Solutions to Common Problems in Dealth Certification

N C H S - Mortality Data - Possible Solutions to Common Problems in Dealth Certification: "Introduction
A death certificate is a permanent record of an individual’s death. One purpose of the death certificate is to obtain a simple description of the sequence or process leading to death rather than a record describing all medical conditions present at death.

Causes of death on the death certificate represent a medical opinion that might vary among individual physicians. In signing the death certificate, the physician, medical examiner, or coroner certifies that, in his/her medical opinion, the individual died from the reported causes of death. The certifier’s opinion and confidence in that opinion are based upon his/her training, knowledge of medicine, available medical history, symptoms, diagnostic tests, and available autopsy results for the decedent. Even if extensive information is available to the certifier, causes of death may be difficult to determine, so the certifier may indicate uncertainty by qualifying the causes on the death certificate.

Cause-of-death data is important for surveillance, research, design of public health and medical interventions, and funding decisions for research and development. While the death certificate is a legal document used for legal, family, and insurance purposes, it may not be the only record used, because, in some cases, the death certificate"