The Evidence Locker

Many people are familiar with the term ’cause of death,’ but fewer understand what ‘manner of death’ means. The distinction is important, and it might surprise you—let’s dive in!

In very simple terms: cause of death is why someone died, and manner of death is how they died. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one.

Cause of Death
A cause of death is why a person died. What happened to make their body stop functioning? There are hundreds of reasons, and listing all possible causes of death is impossible. However, there are some that are common:
-Heart Failure: the heart has failed to function to a degree that resulted in the person’s death
-Stroke: either a clot or a hemorrhage impaired blood flow to the brain to such a degree that it was incompatible with life
-Cancer: a malignant growth that eventually led to a person’s death
-Trauma: physical forces applied to the body that were too much for the body to tolerate, resulting in the person passing away.

These are only a few of the many, MANY causes of death. And a cause of death doesn’t always have to occur at the time of death; cancer, for example, doesn’t kill you instantaneously upon developing it. A stroke may not either. However, in the end, if that’s the factor that led to a person’s demise, it’s considered the cause of death.

Manner of Death
A manner of death is much more straightforward than a cause of death. This isn’t why someone died; it’s how they died. If that doesn’t make sense yet, don’t worry; there are only 5 manners of death, and each cause of death fits into one of these categories.
The five categories are:
1. Homicide
2. Suicide
3. Accidental
4. Natural
5. Undetermined.
The majority of deaths fall into the first four categories. Often, an autopsy isn’t necessary, especially when the cause of death is an illness and the manner of death is natural. However, if there’s any question about how or why a person died, often an autopsy is requested.

Understanding the distinction between the cause of death and the manner of death provides a clearer picture of how medical and legal professionals classify and investigate deaths. While the cause of death explains what happened to the body, the manner of death sheds light on the circumstances surrounding it. Together, these two elements help create a complete narrative, ensuring that every death is properly understood and, when necessary, further investigated. This knowledge is not just fascinating—it’s vital in fields like medicine, law enforcement, and forensics, offering answers to families and justice to those who need it.