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Disclaimer / Limitations
This country’s legal measures were reviewed by our legal staff in consultation with in-country lawyers and/or CRVS legal experts. All efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the legal analysis, however, if you consider there to be any discrepancies or if there have been changes in the law of the country since our staff last updated the legal analysis, we welcome any additional information or insights. Please contact us via this form.
Cause of Death
Bolivia
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Bolivia
Cause of Death
Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Form
Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Form
Form
Does the law provide a form to certify cause of death? If yes, does the form accord with WHO Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Form?
Yes the law provides a form for certifying cause of death that accords with WHO standard MCCD Form
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
The WHO international form of Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (WHO MCCD) is the recommended form for recording information regarding cause of death for certification of all deaths, including stillbirths and unnatural or suspicious deaths. There may be modifications to the form including addition of biographical information of the deceased in an administrative section. Countries may also modify the Manner of Death section as appropriate for their context; however, the form should always include a manner of death section and "Frame B: other medical data" contained in the WHO MCCD.
Yes. Bolivia uses a standardized Medical Certificate of Cause of Death included in the Manual for Medical Certification of Vital Events. The form follows the WHO MCCD structure and applies to both natural and unnatural or suspicious deaths. It includes three sections: (1) Administrative section with personal data such as name, place of birth, residence, geographical place of death (country, department, province, municipality, and locality), and type of place of death (health facility, home, public road, workplace, other, or undetermined), along with sex, marital status, education level, and ID number; (2) Medical data section recording whether medical care was received, the immediate and contributing causes of death, time intervals, manner and mechanism of death, and a specific field for women aged 10–59 to identify maternal deaths; and (3) Certifier information. The form aligns with WHO standards but includes additional administrative fields.
If the MCCD contains a section for reporting manner of death, is the certifier required to fill it out?
Yes
Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
Even if the medical certification of cause of death form used in the jurisdiction is modified from the WHO MCCD form, the form should always include a manner of death section that is aligned with "Frame B: other medical data" contained in the WHO MCCD Standard Form. This is to ensure mortality and morbidity data can be consistently captured by ICD Coders, across countries.
Yes. Bolivia uses a single standardized Medical Certificate of Cause of Death for all deaths, including natural and medicolegal cases. The form includes a specific section on “manner, mechanism, and place of the event,” completed only for violent, accidental, or suspicious deaths, allowing classification such as accident, homicide, or suicide. It also includes a field on the “procedure performed,” indicating whether death was determined clinically or through medicolegal autopsy. The same form applies to all deaths, with dedicated sections for medicolegal cases.
