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 prepared by the Directorate of Health and based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
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.
Service provider
Directorate of Health