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NativePortlander1970 The phrase "contributing factor" is defined as not the main cause. Here's an excerpt from an Ohio gov't document. The first paragraph describes what Dr Baker calls the "top line," the second is the contributing factor(s).
Cause and Manner of Death
Cause of death is a medical opinion which is expressed in two parts. The first is a description of the condition or conditions which directly led to death. When multiple, they are listed in reverse chronological order. The first condition listed is the immediate cause of death, i.e. the condition which caused the individual to die at that time and in that place. The last condition listed is the proximate (or underlying) cause of death, i.e. the condition which started a chain of events leading to death. In some cases, these are one and the same —for example, “Toxic effects of cocaine”. More commonly, the chain has multiple links. For instance, if an individual suffered brain injury from a fall and, while bedridden and unconscious, developed pneumonia which led to death, his or her cause of death could be listed as, “Pneumonia, due to blunt force head trauma, due to fall.”
The second part of the cause of death statement is a list of conditions which did not directly cause death but were contributing factors. For instance, the individual in the example above might have had severe emphysema and, because of this, have been at increased risk of developing pneumonia.
Source:
https://www.clarkcountyohio.gov/DocumentCenter/View/227/Cause-and-Manner-of-Death?bidId= Assuming Ohio and Minnesota (and all the states) use the same courtroom vocabulary, this makes it unmistakably clear that contributing factors are NOT primary causes. Read the whole document for further examples.
