Incorrect death certification. An invitation to obfuscation
Zumwalt, R.E.; Ritter, M.R.
Postgraduate Medicine 81(8): 245-7 250 253-4
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0032-5481 PMID: 3588465 Document Number: 287873
The physician responsible for signing a death certificate has an obligation to complete the medical part of the form, which includes entering the cause of death. In a review of 384 death certificates signed by house staff and attending physicians at a university hospital over a one-year period, 59% contained errors in cause-of-death entries. The most common error was listing mechanisms rather than causes of death. Since death certificates are used in calculating basic mortality statistics, such a large percentage of error can lead to considerable statistical misinformation.