This guidance sets out the process for certifying the medical cause of death in England and Wales. It includes guidance for medical practitioners on:
who can complete an MCCD
the role of medical examiners
when to refer a death to the coroner
how to complete each section of the MCCD
An MCCD is required to register all non-coronial deaths in England and Wales. An MCCD is not required in the case of a stillbirth.
Updates to this page
Published 9 September 2024 Last updated 4 December 2024 +show all updates
The paragraph under example 4 has been updated: if you want to include more than 4 steps in the sequence, you can do so by writing more than one condition on a line, indicating clearly that one is due to, follows from, or is secondary to, the next. The section on implantable medical devices has been updated to state that the attending practitioner must indicate on the MCCD if they believe a hazardous implantable medical device is inside the body. A new section on qualifications has been added: the attending practitioner must include their primary medical qualifications in the declaration.
