what do you call whether someone is dead or alive
The usual term is vital status or living status. In a simple form or database field, you can also just use Alive/Deceased or Living/Deceased.
Best wording
- Vital status : the most formal/clinical term.
- Living status : clear and plain-English.
- Alive or deceased : best if you want the field to be immediately understandable.
Example
A form might label the field as:
html
Vital status: Alive / Deceased
If you want, I can also give you the best term for a medical form , database field , or legal document.