Is it unusual for a M.E. to list the cause of death as unknown?

Answer:
No it is not because our bodies are so complex and begin to break down the moment we pass making it difficult to determine cause of death in quite a few cases. It can also be that there are more than one competing causes where it can't be distinguished as in a suicide/homicide/accidental death case. However the main causes of undetermined death is when a person has had work done by EMS or Doctors that have muddled up the original cause due to treatment and medications given. I hope this helps you out a little.

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no

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if someone's body has been through a lot of perimortem trauma, it might be difficult to identify what among the evidence was actually the cause of death.

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