1. Session IV:
General Guidelines on Filling out and Completing a Certificate of Death
B. Guidelines for Reporting Cause of Death in Specific Groups or Conditions

2. Specific Objectives:
At the end of the session, the participants will be able to:
Enumerate and discuss the general guidelines in completely filling out the certificate of death
Enumerate and discuss some of the guidelines for reporting cause of deaths in specific groups or conditions
Discuss what are the different specific groups or conditions to be considered in certifying deaths.

3. A. General Guidelines on Filling-out and Completing a Certificate of Death
Make participants understand that the contents of this lecture are taken from the handbook developed by KMD of the DOH.

4. - Use the current form of Certificate of Death (Municipal Form No
- Use the current form of Certificate of Death (Municipal Form No. 103, Revised January 2007) or Certificate of Fetal Death (Municipal Form No. 103A, Revised January 2007) as designated by the Office of the Local Civil Registrar.

5. - Complete each item legibly using a computer printer with high resolution or typewriter with black ribbon, or print with pen using permanent black ink.

6. - Do not make alterations or erasures
- Do not make alterations or erasures. Obvious changes could affect the validity of a certificate and altered certificates may be rejected by the Local Civil Registrar.

7. - Do not use abbreviations or medical symbols
- Do not use abbreviations or medical symbols. - Record only one cause per line in the cause-of-death portion. Line (a) must always have an entry.

8. - If the condition on line (a) resulted from another condition, put this other condition on line (b), and so on, until the full sequence is reported. Always enter the underlying cause of death on the lowest used line in Part I. Never skip lines. Additional lines may be added if necessary.

9. - Never report signs and symptoms or abnormal clinical and laboratory findings as causes of death.

10. - If an organ failure (e. g
- If an organ failure (e.g. congestive heart failure) is reported as a cause of death, the underlying condition responsible for the failure should also be reported (e.g. liver failure due to hepatitis B infection).

11. - Mechanistic terminal events (e. g
- Mechanistic terminal events (e.g. cardiopulmonary arrest) should NEVER be reported as one of the causes of death.

12. - If there is uncertainty in the entries for causes of death, it is acceptable to use qualifying terms such as “probable” or “presumed.”

13. - For deaths without medical attendance, a verbal autopsy may be conducted to determine cause. - Use pen with permanent black ink for signatures. Rubber stamps or facsimile signatures are not acceptable.

14. - File original copies of the Certificate of Death with the Office of the Local Civil Registrar. Reproductions or duplicates are not acceptable. - Complete all relevant portions of the Certificate of Death.