Death Classification and Special Circumstance Investigations
Three terms, three questions
Cause of death is the disease or injury that initiated the fatal sequence (gunshot wound of the chest). Mechanism is the physiologic derangement (exsanguination, arrhythmia). Manner of death is the classification: natural, accident, suicide, homicide, or undetermined. Some offices also use "pending" while studies are outstanding, but pending is a placeholder, not a final answer.
Homicide means death at the hands of another person; it is a medicolegal classification, not a criminal charge, and many homicides never produce a prosecution. Suicide requires evidence of intent. Accident covers unintentional injury, including most overdoses. Undetermined is appropriate when the evidence genuinely conflicts or is insufficient - not as a hedge for an incomplete investigation.
Special circumstances that change the playbook
Child deaths require a complete autopsy, scene reenactment, and review of the sleep environment; SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion. Elder and dependent-adult deaths raise abuse and neglect questions. In-custody deaths demand independent investigation and early notification of oversight agencies. Overdose deaths turn on toxicology, prescription-monitoring data, and scene medication counts. Mass fatalities require an identification and morgue command structure. Fires, drownings, and vehicular deaths each carry specific artifacts the investigator must recognize.
Traps: equating homicide with murder, labeling every overdose a suicide, and using undetermined to avoid a difficult decision. Rule of thumb: cause is what killed; manner is how the death came about; mechanism is the body's final failure.