TABLE 3.

Case vignettes with recommended death certificate wording

History	Cause of death (Part I)	Other significant conditions (Part II)	How injury occurred	Manner
Decedent with epilepsy found dead in bed; no other COD discovered	Sudden death due to epilepsy		N/A	N
Decedent with epilepsy found dead in bed; competing cause of death such as severe coronary artery disease discovered	Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease	Epilepsy	N/A	N
Decedent with epilepsy found dead in bed; contributing factor such as moderate coronary artery disease discovered	Sudden death due to epilepsy	Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease	N/A	N
Decedent with epilepsy found dead in bed; ethanol concentration reported as 0.41 g/dL	Acute ethanol intoxication	Epilepsy	Decedent with epilepsy ingested an excess of ethanol	A
Decedent with epilepsy due to blunt head trauma occurring from an accidental fall 10 y prior	Epilepsy due to blunt head trauma due to fall		Decedent with epilepsy found dead; suffered head injury in fall 10 y prior	A
Decedent with epilepsy due to blunt head trauma occurring from an assault 10 y prior	Epilepsy due to blunt head trauma due to assault		Decedent with epilepsy found dead; suffered head injury in assault 10 y prior	H
Decedent with epilepsy found dead, submerged in bathtub; no other COD discovered	Drowning	Epilepsy	Decedent with epilepsy found submerged in bathtub	A
Driver with epilepsy had witnessed seizure in motor vehicle accident; examination revealed no competing COD	Sudden death due to epilepsy		N/A	N

N, natural; A, accident; H, homicide; N/A, not applicable.