Reporting Cause of Death

Medical Certifier’s Responsibilities

The primary responsibility of a medical certifier in death registration is pronouncing the death and completing the medical part of the death certificate, which typically includes:

  • Date, time, and place of death.
  • Question on whether the case was referred to the medical examiner or coroner.
  • Detailed Cause-of-death section including:
    • Immediate and underlying cause of death.
    • Manner of death.
    • Tobacco use.
    • Pregnancy status.
  • Injury details section (if applicable) including:
    • Date and time of injury.
    • Place of injury.
    • Injury at work.
    • Injury Description.
    • If Transportation injury.
  • Certifier’s section with signature and professional information.

If the medical certifier is unavailable in cases of natural death, another qualified individual with access to the decedent's medical history may complete the death report, if permitted by Washington State law.

Please refer to the following references for additional information and review.

Preparation of the Death Certificate

Death certificates are permanent legal records. Official copies of death certificates are used to document individual deaths and to analyze sources of mortality across the population. It is essential that they are filled out accurately and completely.

 

Guidelines for Completing a Death Certificate

  • File electronically through Washington Health and Life Event System (WHALES).
  • Complete each item, following the specific instructions.
  • Do not use abbreviations except those recommended in the specific item instructions.
  • Verify with the informant the spelling of names, especially those that have different spellings for the same sound (Smith or Smyth, Gail or Gayle, Wolf or Wolfe, and so forth).
  • Refer any issues not covered in these instructions to the Center for Health Statistics or to the local registrar.
  • Electronically certify the cause of death.

Washington state requires that the death certificate be completed and filed within five calendar days. Certifiers are expected to use medical training, knowledge of medicine, available medical history, symptoms, diagnostic tests, and autopsy results, if available, to determine the cause of death.

Professional training on Cause of Death reporting death is available and accessed here: NVSS - Improving Cause of Death Reporting

Cause-of-Death Querying

Cause-of-death querying is a process by which Washington State Department of Health contacts medical certifiers to request clarification or additional details regarding the cause-of-death statement. This helps ensure that mortality data is as accurate and complete as possible.

The purpose of querying is:
1. To gather detailed information required to ensure proper coding and classification.
2. To educate certifiers on proper method of completing medical certifications of death.

As one of the key methods for improving the quality of cause-of-death data, querying plays an essential role in Washington State Department of Health’s efforts to ensure high quality mortality data. Reliable mortality statistics are vital for understanding both the causes of and contributing circumstances of death.

Cause-of-death data are important for statistical uses in the following ways: surveillance, research, design of public health and medical interventions, and funding decisions for research and development. Cause-of-death data also has legal and administrative uses, such as in the case of accidents for court cases, insurance claims, etc.

These resources below offer guidance and examples when completing cause of death statements: