One in five deaths occur in hospital settings in our country and information is collected on the causes of these deaths through the Medical Certification of Cause-of-Death (MCCD) system.
The information collected during MCCD is valuable and has multiple uses.
Uses of Medical Certification of Death
1. It is useful both at the individual level as well as at the population level
2. It also helps to deal with the family of the deceased
3. It has statistical purposes
4. It also has juridical purposes
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Usefulness at individual level and population level
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Individual level - Learning from deaths helps us as doctors to be better equipped to identify complications and alter the natural history of the illness to prevent death, where possible, at the individual level
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Population level - At the population level, such information is useful for health planning and organizing health services (in terms of health care professionals, infrastructure, drugs/equipment, etc.) for a city or state or country. Such valuable information comes from death certificates
2. It also helps to deal with the family of the deceased by effectively communicating the course of the illness and the cause of the death. The art and science of helping people deal with their grief may be outside the scope of this e-course but at the minimum, open communication by the doctor with the family will help in the process of bereavement
3. Death certification has statistical purposes
Collation of data helps in calculating death rates, case-fatality rates, proportional mortality rates, etc. for a disease entity or for populations
eg
Report of 'Cause of Death Statistics' by the Registrar General of India (RGI)
4.The certification of death also has juridical purposes
A person has legal existence between the recorded timings of birth and death. Proof of death may help the family in acquiring solatium, pension, assets, claiming rightful inheritance after death etc. (Juridical = Legal purpose)
e-MCCD M1U1S3 version 1
By drkavya1
e-MCCD M1U1S3 version 1
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