Manner of Death
Definition
The circumstantial classification of a death using the NAME five-category scheme (natural, accident, suicide, homicide, undetermined), or the jurisdiction-specific equivalent, recorded separately from the cause of death on most national death certificates.
- Classification scheme
- Five-category NAME (or NASH) scheme recorded on death certificates in most jurisdictions
- Who determines it
- Pathologist or medical examiner through medicolegal investigation
- Recorded on
- Death certificate, separate from the cause of death
Common questions
What are the five categories in the manner of death classification?+
The five categories are Natural, Accident, Suicide, Homicide, and Undetermined. This classification system is called NAME (or NASH in some contexts) and applies to how death occurred, separate from what caused it.
Who decides the manner of death?+
The manner of death is determined by a pathologist or medical examiner based on medicolegal investigation. It is a professional determination that involves examining the circumstances surrounding the death, not just the medical facts.
How is manner of death different from cause of death?+
Cause of death answers what killed someone (the medical or biological reason). Manner of death answers how it happened (the circumstantial category). Both are recorded separately on death certificates and are needed for a complete medicolegal picture.
Related terms
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- Collateral Source
- Any non-deceased source feeding the reconstruction: family, treating clinician, employer, financial records, diary, digital footprint.
- Coma
- Mode of death due to failure of the brain (cerebral function). The patient is unconscious, unresponsive, with depressed or absent reflexes.
- Custodial Death
- Death of a person in police custody, judicial custody, prison, military custody, or psychiatric institution, including transit between facilities.
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- Inquest
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Explained in these topics
- Death Certification and the DVI Medico-Legal InterfaceThe circumstantial classification of a death using the NAME five-category scheme (natural, accident, suicide, homicide, undetermined), or the jurisdiction-spec...
- The Medical and Behavioural Forensic SciencesThe classification of how death came about: natural, accident, homicide, suicide, or undetermined. It is a medicolegal determination made by the pathologist or...
- Mode and Manner of Death: NASH Classification, NHRC ProtocolThe circumstance in which death occurred: natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined. The NASH classification.
- Modes and Manner of Death: Forensic ThanatologyThe medicolegal classification of how the death came about. The standard NAME scheme has five categories: Natural, Accidental, Suicidal, Homicidal, Undetermine...
- Psychological Autopsy: Suicide vs Homicide DifferentiationThe medico-legal classification of how death occurred (natural, accident, suicide, homicide, undetermined), as distinct from the cause of death.