https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2013/12_0288.htm **Survey of New York City Resident Physicians on Cause-of-Death Reporting, 2010** **Results:** A total of 521 residents from 38 residency programs participated (program response rate, 54%). We identified 178 (34%) high-volume respondents. **Only 33.3% of all respondents and 22.7% of high-volume residents believed that cause-of-death reporting is accurate.** Of all respondents, 48.6% had knowingly reported an inaccurate cause of death; 58.4% of high-volume residents had done so. Of respondents who indicated they reported an inaccurate cause, 76.8% said the system would not accept the correct cause, **40.5% said admitting office personnel instructed them to “put something else,” and 30.7% said the medical examiner instructed them to do so;** 64.6% cited cardiovascular disease as the most frequent diagnosis inaccurately reported. **Conclusion:** Most resident physicians believed the current cause-of-death reporting system is inaccurate, often knowingly documenting incorrect causes. The system should be improved to allow reporting of more causes, and residents should receive better training on completing death certificates. ------------------------------------------------- So why is this relevant? Back in 2013, **40%**! of residents knowingly reported the wrong cause of death because they were told to. A much higher percentage put the wrong cause of death because the computer told them to. This is with no political or financial incentive to inflate the death counts back in 2013. Now that there is both financial and political incentive to list patients as having died from COVID, how are we supposed to believe the numbers they put out? Just google things like 'gunshot victim listed as covid death' and you get countless examples.