Kuolemansyytä

Kuolemansyytä is the Finnish term used to denote the cause of death in medical and legal contexts. It describes the factor or sequence of factors that directly led to a person's death, including both the immediate cause and, when applicable, the underlying cause.

Determination and documentation: The attending physician typically records the kuolemansyy on the death certificate. When death is unexpected, suspicious, or requires legal oversight, police involvement may trigger a post-mortem examination (ruumiinavaukset). The results of autopsy and toxicology analyses help establish the kuolemansyytä and may influence the official classification.

Classification: Causes of death are often categorized as natural or non-natural, with subcategories such as disease, accident, suicide, or homicide. The immediate cause is the event directly resulting in death, while an underlying cause is the disease or condition that initiated the sequence.

Use in statistics and public health: Mortality statistics, produced by Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus), rely on documented kuolemansyytä and ICD-10 coding to describe leading causes of death, trends, and to guide public health planning.

Terminology and usage: In everyday Finnish medical language, kuolemansyy is the standard term for "cause of death"; kuolemansyytä is the inflected form used in sentences and official phrases.