Death certificates are pretty uniform in their structure, and they call for strict accuracy in listing the relevant details. There are five critical lines on a death certificate, each having its own contribution to the final conclusion.

The first (top) line is “Immediate Cause of Death.” This is where the actual terminal event is recorded. This line is followed by three more, all labeled “Due To,” where contributors to the immediate cause, in declining order, are listed. An example of this structure might be Immediate Cause listed as Cerebral Hemorrhage, and the first Due To line might be Gunshot Wound. Very direct. In the event that there are other contributors in the cascade of Due To notations, they would follow, in descending order. Finally, there is a line called “Other Significant Conditions,” which serves as a catch-all for relevant, non-fatal items. In the example above, this line might read Severe Depression to explain why there was a gunshot wound to the head.

You can imagine how many death certificates I’ve seen in my career, but you can’t imagine the number of death certificates that are being fraudulently tallied in this current pandemic. Someone in some bureaucrat’s office decided that if COVID appears anywhere on a death certificate, it is counted as a COVID death, even if it isn’t. If COVID is on the Immediate Cause line, it is clearly a COVID death. If it is on the first Due To line, it might be a COVID death in a person with a significant comorbidity. If it is on the second or third Due To line, it may or may not have a role in the death, but if it appears in the Other Significant Conditions line, it is not a COVID death, yet it is being counted as one. An example is the fellow who crashed his motorcycle and tested positive for COVID. This is fraud masquerading as science.