Cause, Mechanism, and Manner of Death When a death occurs, a physician or medical examiner must fill out a death

certificate. In order to properly complete this document, they must determine three things: the cause, the mechanism, and the manner of death. There is often confusion about which is which. The cause of death is the disease or injury that produces the physiological disruption inside the body resulting in death. An example of a cause of death is a gunshot wound to the chest. The mechanism of death is the physiological derangement that results in the death. An example of a mechanism of death due to the gunshot wound described above is exsanguination extreme blood loss!. "ast but not least, the manner of death is how the death came about. #anner of death can be classified in six ways: $! &! '! )! +! -! %atural Accident (uicide *omicide ,ndetermined .ending

A natural death occurs as a result of aging, illness, or disease. An accidental death occurs when an injury or poisoning causes death but it is unintentional. In this case there can be no evidence supporting the idea that the poisoning or injury occurred with an intent to harm or cause death. A suicide results from an injury or poisoning occurring from a deliberate, self/inflicted act committed to harm or cause death to one0s self. A homicide occurs when death is caused by another person. Undetermined is used as a classification when the information pointing toward one manner of death is no more compelling than any others. A pending death is one that is waiting on more evidence or analysis before the examiner can ma1e a determination. These characteristics of deaths are helpful for various reasons. The family of the deceased will have peace of mind if they 1now exactly what caused their loved one0s death. Insurance claims may not be accepted if the manner of death was a suicide. Also, many legal proceedings focus their attention to these characteristics during the trial and prosecution of murderers. This information is necessary to compile statistics for monitoring health and crime in the population. As you can see, characteristics of death are very important details to be aware of under several different circumstances. 22222222222 Cause, manner and mechanism of death

Mechanism of death 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222 3 4efined as the immediate physiologic derangement resulting in death 3 5xamples: hemorrhage, cardiac arrhythmia, cerebral hypoxia, sepsis 3 A particular mechanism of death can be produced by a variety of different causes of death Manner of death 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222 3 4efined as how the death came about6 a judgment based on circumstances surrounding the fatal event 3 In most jurisdictions the following categories are used: / %atural: due entirely or nearly so! to natural disease processes / *omicide: due to a volitional act of another person with the intent to cause fear, harm or death / *omicidal manner does not indicate a criminal homicide, which is determined by the legal process and not by the certifier of death / (uicide: due to injury that occurred with the intent to induce self/harm or cause one7s own death / Accident: due to injury when there is no evidence of intent to harm / ,ndetermined: inade8uate information regarding the circumstances of death to determine manner6 example: individual found unconscious with massive subdural hemorrhage6 in the absence of information on the events leading up to death, it is impossible to determine if the hemorrhage is due to accidental fall, homicidal violence, etc. 3 When death is due to a combination of natural and unnatural events, preference is generally given to the non/natural cause6 example: a man suffers a myocardial infarction while swimming in the ocean, loses consciousness, and drowns6 the manner of death is ruled accident, as he may potentially have survived if the fatal myocardial infarction had occurred on land 3 The 9but/for: principle as1s the 8uestion 9;ut for the inciting injury or event!, would the decedent still be alive<: 3 In most jurisdictions, deaths due to motor vehicle collisions are considered accidental in manner 3 4eaths due to complications of medical therapy that are reasonably expectable e.g. neutropenia due to chemotherapy, digoxin toxicity! are considered natural 3 4eaths due to improper use of medical devices or improper therapy e.g. malfunctioning morphine drip, failure to repair obvious arterial injury inflicted during surgery! are considered accidental 3 While acute alcohol or drug toxicity is considered an accidental death, deaths due to conse8uences of chronic substance abuse hepatic cirrhosis due to ethanol abuse, endocarditis secondary to I= drug use! are conventionally considered natural in manner