My mom fell and broke both her legs on April 8th. Went to hospital, had surgery on legs. After a few weeks. Went to rehab. Developed pneumonia and went back to hospital. Treated and went back to rehab. Developed pneumonia again and went back to hospital. During this time family was told that she had a 9cm decubitus ulcer (bed sore). They did a skin graft on leg below knee. 2 weeks later, leg had to be amputated due to infection. In the mean time, ulcer is getting bigger and bigger. Eventually she went to nursing home with large 15 cm ulcer. Developed infections in leg also. For the 3 days before she died, she had a 105.1 temperature. (My mom also had a condition called neurofibromatosis which is hereditary tumors on nerves however, she had this all her life with no problems mostly cosmetic). When she passed away her death certificate states: Cause of death: immediate cause: cardiopulmonary arrest (due to multisystem organ failure do to or as a result of neurofibromatosis) and then it says, down on the bottom 36B part 2: (enter other significant conditions: it states: hypertension, copd, anemia, recent hip fracture, recent deep vein thrombosis... she never had a hip fracture, the dvt was 7 years ago, and the cert. never mentions any type of infections. I realize the immediate cause of death is correct, however, it was the infections that actually caused all of this. I think the Dr.'s were covering their asse& in case of a medical malpractice lawsuit, because everything mentioned is correct, but in their own words.

It will be difficult to get the death certificate changed. You can tell your concerns to the Dr that signed it.
The cause of death listed will not effect a malpractice suit, as we all know that is just the Dr's opinion. Your mother's medical record before she died will have much more impact on a malpractice proceeding.

You would need another medical professional to backup your claims, and a lawyer to file a dispute of their findings.

What difference does it make? If you sue for medical malpractice, you will be able to establish the true cause of death no matter what it says on the DC.