death certificates

[mum2A&L]

just a quick, rather strange question, if a death is caused by suicide or murder will a death certificate say so? If it says accidental does that mean exactly what it says (it was an accident).

 

[Becky]

The death certificate will state in full the cause of death and who it was certified by (usually a doctor). If it was a suicide it should state suicide and there often is an inquest in which case it will mention an inquest and the coroner's name. As there is often a delay in the certificate being issues following an inquest you can tell by the gap between date of death and date of registration.

If there is a link to an inquest you could research further into the legal documents (not sure where exactly they'd be).

 

[Tiggergirl]

It's quite possible that if someone commits suicide but doesn't leave a note, an inquest can result in an accidental death verdict. To record suicide they have to be 100% sure that the person intended to kill themselves. Unfortunately I do know of a case where the suicide note was not handed over to police and the death was eventually recorded as accidental.

 

[lozzi]

my stepdad hung himself and that was recorded as an accidental death. Even though he text someone telling he was ending it all as he had nothing to live for, and this was mentioned in coroners court, and yet still it was recorded as accidental death...

 

[mum2A&L]

ok, thank you for your help. It was what i was thinking.



I won't go into details as it isn't my place to say, but i just wanted to confirm what i thought and google just confused me.

Thanks again!