How are COVID-19 death certificates created?
(No, they are not being falsified by the CDC to inflate mortality rates.)
Death certificate information is essential in estimating mortality during a public health emergency, such as COVID-19 to further evaluate appropriate public health response. We know that COVID-19 is a complex disease and can cause many life-threatening conditions, including pneumonia, respiratory failure, blood clots, strokes and heart attacks, among others. So how is the cause of death really determined on the death certificate?
Who determines the cause of death? If it occurs in a healthcare facility, either the physician who oversees the patient or their primary care doctor will be responsible for determining the cause of death and noting that in the death certificate. If the death occurred in any other location (such as home, or a place of an accident), then either a coroner or medical examiner will be responsible for that.
What’s on a death certificate? In the section completed by the medical certifier, a cause of death is recorded in two parts, which distinguish whether a person died from COVID-19 or with COVID-19.
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