What is the term for the determination of how the injury or disease leads to death?

• A. Time of death
• B. Cause of death
• C. Manner of death
• D. Mechanism of death

Answer: (C)

In death investigations, it’s essential to separate cause, mechanism, and manner. The term for describing how the injury or disease leads to death is the mechanism of death. It refers to the physiological or biochemical process that ends life as a result of the cause. For example, a gunshot wound might cause death through the mechanism of exsanguination (massive blood loss), while a drowning case often involves hypoxia as the mechanism. The cause of death is the actual injury or disease (gunshot wound, blunt force trauma, heart disease). The manner of death is the category that describes the context (natural, accident, homicide, suicide, undetermined). So the best term for “how the injury or disease leads to death” is mechanism of death.