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Charles V. Wetli, MD
Chief Medical Examiner Suffolk County, New York

JAMA. 1996;276(4):279-280.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—The study by Drs Messite and Stellman¹ emphasized the inaccuracies of death certification and attributes these partly to the lack of adequate training of physicians. However, a more serious flaw in the system was also evident in their study: the very format of the death certificate encourages physicians to list mechanisms of death instead of a cause of death.

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