General Medical Officer (GMO) Manual: Administrative Section

Decedent Affairs for the Medical Officer

Department of the Navy
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

 

Operational setting Active Duty Deaths at an MTF Death of a fetus/newborn
MTF/clinic setting Death certificate

Operational setting

When a death occurs within a command, the medical officer/senior medical department representative (MO/SMDR) shall immediately furnish the commanding officer with a memorandum report providing required documenting as per MILPERSMAN 4210100 for naval personnel and Decendent Affairs Manual, paragraph 3, chapter 3 (NAVMEDCOMINST 5360.1), for other than Naval personnel. An entry should documented in the Medical Department Journal describing all available information concerning the death.

MTF/clinic setting

There are five categories of individuals who will be pronounced dead at an MTF:

Each MTF should have a death packet that covers required notifications of each category of personnel. This packet must be as complete as possible even if the family does not want to deal with the issue at the time of notification.

Active Duty Deaths Occurring within an MTF

Location specific requirements for a death certificate

Each State, U.S. Territory, or overseas location has specific requirements for its death certificate. Check withyour patient administration department for those requirements. Although you pronounce an individual dead, the medical examiner will be notified if death occurred by:

Death of a fetus/newborn

A medical examiner shall investigate the death of a human fetus if:

When in doubt, call the medical examiner's office and ask if they would like to review the case.

Reviewed by LCDR Robert A. Rahal, MSC, USN, Assistant Specialty Leader for Patient Administration, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington, D.C. (1999).

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