Reporting, Certifying and Registering of deaths

Post-death Processing includes 3 main steps. These steps are depicted in the next picture.

This refers to notifying the authorities of the fact of death

This refers to the declaration of death and identifying the cause of death

What does it refer to?

Reporting death vs Certifying death

Reporting a Death

Certifying a Death

For reporting a death, the information below is to be provided to the registering authorities:

While certifying a death, the information below is required:

1. the identity of the deceased

2. the date & time of death

3. the place of death

1. the identity of the deceased

2. the date & time of death and

3. the place of death

4. the biological sequence of events leading to death

What information is required?

Reporting a Death

Certifying a Death

This is done by a family member/village administrative officer/police officer/other authorized person (for an out-of-hospital death) and by the hospital (for an in-hospital death)

This can only be done by a physician

Reporting a Death

Certifying a Death

Who can do it ?

• The government officers authorized to register deaths are called ‘registrars’ – eg. village administrative officer, municipal health officer, jail warden, investigating police officer, etc.

• The registrar, after receiving the report of death and the cause-of-death, will register the death and hand over the ‘official death certificate’ to the family of the deceased

Registering of a death

Death Certification by a medical officer comprises of two components:

Components of Death Certification

1. Certifying the fact of death (or declaring dead)

• Declaring a death only to discover that the patient later woke up is not acceptable and can be very embarrassing

• As a minimum, a full set of observations should be undertaken and documented, in particular placing a stethoscope on the patient’s chest [Remember ABC = airway, breathing and circulation]

2. Identifying the cause of death [this is called Medical             Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD)]

• Identifying the cause of death is a vital step in death certification

                                                                                                                                   Match the following:

What is the leading cause of death among middle-aged                                           adults in?                                                                                       

The causes of death may vary from region to region, both within countries and between countries. This cause-of-death for various regions is obtained from death certification by physicians.

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