Death Certificate

A death certificate is the official government record of a person's death, listing the date, place and causes of death as reported by a physician, medical examiner or coroner. In asbestos claims it is used to prove the death and often the cause, but it is frequently incomplete or wrong about asbestos disease.

Origin

Death registration became standard across the United States in the early twentieth century, and states use a standard certificate form recommended by federal health authorities. The cause-of-death section lists the immediate cause, the underlying conditions that led to it, and other significant conditions.

Significance in Asbestos Context

Families pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit or a trust claim for a loved one will almost always need a certified copy of the death certificate. The certifying doctor may list only a final event, such as respiratory failure or pneumonia, without naming mesothelioma or asbestosis, or may call a mesothelioma simply 'lung cancer.' That does not necessarily defeat a claim: trusts and courts usually rely on pathology reports, medical records and sometimes autopsy findings to prove the diagnosis. In some cases a family can ask the certifying physician or the state vital records office to amend the certificate. The certificate also helps establish the date of death, which can start the statute of limitations for a wrongful death claim.

Example Sentence

The death certificate listed 'cardiopulmonary arrest' as the cause, so the family's lawyer relied on the pathology report to prove the mesothelioma diagnosis for the trust claims.

Related Terms

Wrongful Death, Survival Action, Personal Representative, Pathology Report, Mesothelioma Misclassification, Autopsy, Statute of Limitation

Notes

• Order several certified copies; trusts, courts and insurers may each want one.
• If asbestos disease is left off, ask your lawyer whether an amendment is worth pursuing.
• Keep the pathology report and final medical records with the death certificate.