@ABSORBER posted:I'm not confusing anything. The death certificate lists a chain of events or conditions that directly lead to a cause of death. That's the intent, anyway. The first condition (a) is the IMMEDIATE CAUSE of death. After that there can be MANY conditions listed that LEAD or possibly CONTRIBUTE to the cause of death listed in (a). The last condition listed is supposed to be the UNDERLYING CAUSE.
You're first paragraph is accurate, but then you contradict it in the rest of your post. The U07.1 code doesn't go on the death certificate in the motorcycle accident example. That code would be on the patient's chart for documentation, but not the death certificate bc it didn't contribute to the person's death and is not an underlying cause. It is totally unrelated to the death. The death certificate is not a medical record. It doesn't include all of the patient's medical conditions that did not contribute to the death. If the motorcyclist had a heart condition, that wouldn't be on the death certificate either.
I really don't know if COVID deaths have been under-reported or over-reported, and I'm not trying to convince you either way. I'm just trying to explain how COD reporting works, and to correct the erroneous information that you posted as fact.