In April, 2010, the Ohio State Medical Board issued a Policy Statement that sets for guidelines for the preparation of death certificates in Ohio. The Policy Statement can be read here: http://med.ohio.gov/pdf/position_statements/Death_Certificates.pdf. In brief, a Death Certificate can be completed by the county coroner, medical examiner or the patient’s attending physician. The “attending physician” is the physician in charge of the patient’s care for the illness or condition that resulted in death. There is inherently a potential conflict-of-interest in this setting: the same physician who negligently causes a patient’s wrongful death may also prepare the patient’s death certificate. Obviously, under these circumstances, the attending physician has an incentive author a self-serving Death Certificate.
