Place of death

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Death certificate (example)

The place of death is one of the key biographical data and describes the geographic location at or near which a person died . It is always placed after the date of death , for example "† 1902 in Lemberg" or "gest. 1902 in Lviv ”.

statistics

The place of death is not systematically recorded statistically in any country. All information therefore relates to random surveys based on documents to be evaluated individually by hand, although these surveys are not representative. In-depth analyzes can hardly be generalized due to the small sample sizes. Many studies show values ​​between 14 and 30 percent for the place of death “home”. The places of death hospital, nursing home, old people's home (and hospice) complement each other: the distribution ranges from 34% hospital and 34% home in the Netherlands (2002) to hospital 61% and home 10% in Canada (2004). In an international comparison, a correspondingly large supply of home places and gerontological medical care there is associated with fewer deaths in hospitals. Similarly, when compared over time, an expansion of hospices, homes and palliative wards is associated with correspondingly fewer deaths in hospitals, while the proportion of those who died at home remains the same.

In Germany , there is only a comprehensive statistical survey of how many deaths per year in hospital . In 2013, 46% died in hospital. No official statistics are kept for all other places of death. These can only be estimated through random surveys on the basis of the death certificates, whereby these surveys are very complex and not representative. An analysis of the literature of death to 2005 shows that 25 to 30% in the domestic environment of dying, 15-25% in the nursing home / care home , 1-2% in hospice and 3-7% at a different location.

Geographic location

The geographical location is an entity of the administrative structure (usually the place name ). If the place is not a settlement area, the smallest administrative division is given (e.g. the district). If the place of death cannot be precisely determined, it is circumscribed (in Germany in accordance with the general administrative regulation for the Personal Status Act; for example: “on the journey from Helgoland to Amrum”). Alternatively, other details are also possible, e.g. B. "Unknown in Austria" or a certain mountain range.

The place of death is entered in the death certificate by the doctor, the place is officially determined in the death certificate by the competent registry office or the equivalent abroad. This determination can be checked by a court. In the case of hospital deaths, the hospital name is usually also given.

Law

Relevant in Germany is the Personal Status Act (PStG) together with the general administrative regulation for the Personal Status Act (PStG-VwV). From a legal point of view, the place of death is of importance because this gives rise to the local responsibility of the registry office and, if applicable, of the social welfare agency (Section 98 (3) SGB ​​XI ) for funeral costs.

Local jurisdiction of the registry office

In principle, Section 28, Paragraph 1 of the PStG applies to the local jurisdiction of the registry office . Exceptions to this are:

  • Land vehicles: according to Location of the extraction, Section 37 (1) PStG
  • Mines : according to Location of the shaft entrance, Section 37 (2) PStG
  • Members of the former German Wehrmacht: registry office in whose district the deceased had his last place of residence or habitual residence; this applies to deaths in Germany and abroad, § 44 PStG
  • Deaths on Lake Constance
  • Deaths of prisoners of the former German concentration camps in the federal territory: Special registry office in Bad Arolsen, § 38 Abs. 1 PStG [2]
  • Deaths on German ocean-going vessels: Registry Office I in Berlin, Section 37 (1) PStG

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Description and analysis of the place of death in selected regions of Germany on the basis of epidemiological cross-sectional surveys in outpatient and inpatient settings.Habilitation thesis presented by Dr. med. Burkhard Dasch 2017 PDF
  2. ↑ Federal Statistical Office . Health: Causes of Death in Germany. Special series 12 row 4. Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden, 1975–2015 [1]
  3. ↑ Diagnostic data of the hospitals from 2000 (key data of fully inpatients) Federal health reporting
  4. ↑ Places of death change over the course of a decade: A population-based study using death certificates from 2001 and 2011 Deutsches Ärzteblatt Int 2015; 112: 496-504; DOI: 10.3238 / arztebl.2015.0496 Dasch, Burkhard; Blum, Klaus; Gude, Philipp; Bausewein, Claudia
  5. ↑ General administrative regulation for the Civil Status Act