Glossary of Terms and Definitions

Cause of death - the disease or injury which initiates a chain of events, brief or prolonged, which produces a fatal outcome.

Mechanism of death - the final physiologic derangement, incompatible with continued life, produced by the cause of death, e.g. sepsis, respiratory depression, cardiac dysrhythmia, etc.

Manner of death - a classification of the way in which the cause of death came about, specifically, natural, homicidal, suicidal or accidental.

Natural death - death due to natural causes, i.e. due to a spontaneous or naturally occurring disease or degenerative process.

Unnatural death - death caused solely by injury or hastened by injury in a person vulnerable due to preexistent disease.

Accidental death - unnatural death where there is no evidence of intent to cause harm.

Suicide - unnatural death resulting from a purposeful action, explicit or implicit, taken to end one’s life.

Homicide - unnatural death resulting from intentional harm, explicit or implicit, of one person by another.

Manner undetermined - the ruling applied when insufficient evidence or information can be adduced, usually about intent, to assign a manner of death.

Below are some abbreviations used in this report with which the reader may not be familiar.

CO - Carbon Monoxide

CNS - Central Nervous System

CV, CVD - Cardiovascular, cardiovascular disease

Drugs A. - Drugs of abuse, not including cocaine

Drugs P. - Pharmaceuticals

GSW - Gunshot wound

MVTA - Motor vehicle traffic accident

OC - Out-of-county case

OD - Drug overdose, including alcohol.

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