We only die once… but from how many causes?

When a person dies, the certifying physician records the cause of death on the death certificate. In many cases, several causes are mentioned, as well as the train of events that led to death. Aline Désesquelles and her colleagues explain why this type of information is useful for studying trends in causes of death in a country, and why international comparisons are difficult, notably because of cross-national differences in the ways medical certificates are completed.