Croft Philip R, Lathrop Sarah L, Zumwalt Ross E
Office of the Medical Investigator, MSC11 6030, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA.
J Forensic Sci. 2006 May;51(3):651-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00128.x.
Little is known about the amendment of death certificates (DCs) issued by medical examiners and coroners. This retrospective study examined why, how, and with what frequency cause and manner of death were amended on DCs issued by forensic pathologists over a 6-year period at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. Approximately 1% of DCs had either cause or manner of death amendments, with arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and intoxicants the most commonly amended and resulting causes of death, respectively. There was a significant association between manner of death and number of DCs amended (p<0.001). By percent, natural and suicide DCs were the most frequently amended. The way in which manner of death changed was significantly associated with the amount of time elapsed between DCs (p=0.04). Toxicology was the most common reason for DC amendment.
关于法医和验尸官签发的死亡证明（DC）的修正情况，人们了解甚少。这项回顾性研究调查了新墨西哥州医学调查办公室的法医病理学家在六年时间里签发的死亡证明上，死因和死亡方式为何、如何以及以何种频率被修正。大约1%的死亡证明有死因或死亡方式的修正，动脉硬化性心血管疾病和中毒分别是最常被修正的死因和修正后导致的死因。死亡方式与修正的死亡证明数量之间存在显著关联（p<0.001）。按百分比计算，自然死亡和自杀死亡的死亡证明是最常被修正的。死亡方式改变的方式与两份死亡证明之间经过的时间量显著相关（p=0.04）。毒理学是死亡证明修正最常见的原因。
