Which term describes the mechanism of death?

• A. Cause of death
• B. Mechanism of death
• C. Manner of death
• D. Postmortem change

Answer: (B)

The mechanism of death is the physiological process that directly leads to death. It answers “how” the death occurs at the body’s systems level. For example, death can occur by exsanguination (severe blood loss), leading to shock and failure of circulation; or by asphyxia (lack of oxygen) causing brain and organ failure; or by a lethal cardiac arrhythmia that stops effective pumping. These are the specific processes that stop life.

This is distinct from the cause of death, which is the disease or injury that sets those processes in motion (like a gunshot wound or a heart attack). It’s also different from the manner of death, which is the classification of how death occurred in a social or legal sense (natural, accidental, homicide, suicide, undetermined). Postmortem changes refer to changes that happen after death, such as rigor, livor, and algor mortis, not to the death process itself.

So, the term that describes the mechanism of death is the physiological process that directly results in death.