DEATH CERTIFICATE

FAJAR AWALIA YULIANTO

document issued by a medical

practitioner certifying the deceased state
of a person such as a registrar of a vital
statistics that declares the date,
location, and cause of a person s death
as later entered in an official register of
deaths

DEFINITION

Each

countries prescribes its own

jurisdiction on DC
Purpose of DC

to review the the cause of death

Required to arrange the burial or cremation
To provide evidence the fact of death
To compile data on leading cause of death
among other statistic

NATURE OF CERTIFICATE

Medical

Doctor

In the USA, delayed issue of DC is a crime and

cause to loss the practice license
Paramedics

Obvious cause of death

Accident with no survival chance
Police

SIDS case
Accident with no survival chance

ISSUING THE DC

Vital

statistic office
Primary health care
Hospital
Kelurahan

HOW TO OBTAIN THE DC

THE DC FORM

Immediate

cause of death

The final disease or injury causing of death

Intermediate

cause of death

A disease or condition that preceded and caused the

immediate cause of death
Underlying

cause of death

A disease or condition before, and leading to, the

intermediate or immediate cause of death. It can be
present for years before death
Manner

of death

The circumstances leading to death-accident, homicide,

suicide, unknown or undetermined, and natural causes

DEFINITION OF THE FORM

Medical

examiner

A physician, acting in an official capacity within particular

jurisdiction, charged with the investigation and examination of
persons dying suddenly, unexpectedly, or violently,or whose
death resulted from, or presents, a potential public hazard
Coroner

A public official, appoint or elected, in a particular geographic

jurisdiction, whose official duty is to make inquiry of deaths in
certain category
Pronouncing

physician

The one who determines the decedent is legally dead

Certifying

physician

The one who certifies the cause of death

DEFINITION OF THE FORM

Item

32 is the most difficult to complete

accurately
Part I is a sequential list of conditions
leading to immediate cause of death and the
time interval between their onset and the
death
Part II is a list of other condition
contributing to death but not directly
causing death
Think the death as a sequence

DEFINITION OF THE FORM

PART

I LINE A

Disease, complication, or injury that directly

caused the death (e.g myocardial infarction, not
the cardiac arrest)
Specific terms are better than vague ones (e.g.
Cereberal infarction, not stroke; E. Coli sepsis, not
sepsis)
When cancer listed, list the primary site, cell type,
cancer grade, and specific organ or lobe affected
Avoid terms without medical meaning i.e old age
List pending if autopsy is expected

IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF DEATH

LINES

B, C, D

Each condition listed should be cause the one

above it
Proceed logically from the underlying cause
with due to or as a consequence of

INTERMEDIATE/UNDERLYING
CAUSE

The

right of lines a through d

More precise is better

approximately and unknown duration is
acceptable

MARKING TIME INTERVALS

PART

II

Significant illnesses or conditions that may

have contributed to the death but were not the
direct causes of it

OTHER ILLNESSES

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Review the instructions and familiarize

Write in black indelible ink
Do not abbreviate
Use 24 hour clock
Sign the bottom right side, and include
the title
Check the DC for completeness

INSTRUCTION

www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/misc/hb_cod.pdf

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ALHAMDULILLAH