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Quality analysis of the completion of death certificates in Madrid

Pilar Pinto Pastor1, Enrique Dorado Fernández1, Elena Albarrán Juan2

  • 1Universidad Complutense de Madrid: Legal Medicine, Psychiatry and Pathology Department, School of Medicine, Pza. Ramón y Cajal, s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain; Forensic Medicine, Medico-Legal Institute of Madrid, C/ de Julio Cano Lasso, 4, 28042, Madrid, Spain.

Forensic Science International
|January 22, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Errors in Death Certificates (DCs) are common due to inadequate training, impacting mortality statistics. Improving DC completion requires enhanced training and digitalization.

Area of Science:

  • Medical-legal documentation
  • Public Health
  • Mortality Statistics

Background:

  • Death Certificates (DCs) are crucial medical-legal documents.
  • Inadequate training leads to frequent errors in DC completion.
  • Errors can misclassify mortality statistics and misdirect resources.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the quality of Death Certificate completion in Madrid.
  • To identify common errors in DC completion.
  • To propose strategies for improving DC accuracy and utility.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of 1974 Death Certificates (DCs) from Madrid.
  • Evaluation of demographic, personal, and causal information accuracy.
  • Assessment of document usage and error rates.

Main Results:

  • Demographic and personal data were mostly accurate.
  • 16.2% of cases did not use the official DC.
  • 91% of DCs contained errors (major or minor), with 38.4% having incorrect cause-of-death chains.

Conclusions:

  • Increased training for certifiers, starting at the undergraduate level and including workshops, is essential.
  • Digitalization of DCs in Spain is recommended to facilitate completion.
  • Standardized documentation for medical examiners is proposed to improve natural and violent death statistics.

Keywords:
CertificationDeath certificateInaccurateMedical certificate of cause of deathMedico-legal documents

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