A pilot scheme in the United Kingdom to double-check death certificates has found that work related fatalities may be being significantly underreported because doctors are failing to give an accurate cause of death for one in four patients.
Results suggest that doctors may blame the wrong type of disease in as many as one in 10 cases, by either getting it wrong or failing to acknowledge a pre-existing underlying cause. The findings came in a Sheffield pilot of a medical examiner system due to be introduced across England and Wales in April 2014. A 1,000-strong body of medical examiners will be tasked with double-checking death certificates.