Guidelines for writing death certificates
-Automatic translation
A medical doctor shall write a death certificate for each person who dies in Iceland, according to the law on death certificates, autopsies, etc (Icelandic). The death certificate must be written on a form, either electronic or on paper, prepared by the Directorate of Health and based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
The death certificate
The death certificate is divided into two parts. On the one hand, there is administrative information such as the deceased's name, ID number, gender, marital status, legal domicile, place of death, and date of death. On the other hand, there is medical information on the causes of death and how the death occurred.
The information on causes of death is coded according to ICD-10, the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization, and then entered in the Causes of Death Register.
The death certificate is written by the doctor who examines the body or by the person responsible for the examination of the body. If a death has been reported to the police, the death certificate may not be written until they have decided that there is no reason for a forensic autopsy. In the case of a forensic physical examination, a death certificate shall be written by the doctor who participated in the examination.
A medical doctor who performs an autopsy shall write a death certificate.
A medical doctor who is called in for a post-mortem examination must notify the police if:
it can be assumed that the death is related to a criminal act, suicide, or death caused by an accident,
a person has been found dead,
death is unexpected,
a person dies in prison or another similar place or
it can be assumed that death is the result of a mistake, negligence, or an accident during medical treatment.
A death certificate shall be carefully completed, and all information available when a death certificate is completed shall be entered in the relevant fields on the certificate.
A death certificate has many functions
A death certificate is, in part, a legal document and a prerequisite for registering a death in the national register and issuing a permit to perform a funeral. In addition, it is a source for statistical analysis and research on mortality. It is, therefore, important that information recorded on the death certificates is as accurate and correct as possible.
When official statistics on causes of death in Iceland are published, only the so-called underlying causes of death are used. The World Health Organization defines the underlying cause of death as the disease or injury that started a chain of diseases or events that directly led to death or the circumstances related to the accident or violence that caused the fatal injury. Since 1996, however, contributing causes of death have also been coded and recorded in the Causes of Death Register. That information can be used for scientific research.
More information
Service provider
Directorate of Health