Procedure - certifying a death

[Wilberforce]

Hello,

Does any one know whether, if a person dies in a hospital, hospice, carehome, etc, the doctor completing the death certificate is required toexplain its contents (contributing factors, cause of death, etc) to thenext-of-kin?

Many thanks
W

[Kati]

Re: Procedure - certifying a death

[MENTION=141]enaid[/MENTION] [MENTION=39710]des8[/MENTION] would you know??

[des8]

Re: Procedure - certifying a death

Next of Kin has no legal meaning in UK.
The doctor would only need to explain the content to a court etc, but I would expect one to give a close relative an idea of what it meant in layman's terms.
If you are having difficulty working out what your loved one (?) died from you could post details here and someone might be able to help

[Wilberforce]

Re: Procedure - certifying a death

Thank you for yourreply. It’s an odd one.

A close relative of afriend died but when they went to collect the death certificate as agreed withthe hospice they were told it was not written, the CO was involved but theyclaimed not to know why. The family gota call from CO wanting to know if they were happy with the certificate and thecause of death or whether they had any concerns, including with the care theirloved-one had received. They told CO theyhadn’t seen the certificate and CO committed to getting the hospice to speak tothe family to explain it. The agreementwas that the family would then confirm to CO whether they were OK with thedetails or not.

However, CO wentagainst the agreement, spoke to other care providers (who gave false information)and, without waiting for the family’s comments, insisted they collect thecertificate. In the meantime, the familyhad raised some concerns about ‘care’ to CO which it ignored, even though it hadasked for that information in the first place. The family never had the explanation from the doctor who has refused tomeet with them and CO won’t respond.

Unsurprisingly,having been asked for their comments by CO and having had them ignored, etcthey are very unhappy, especially as the doctors won’t communicate. CO was told the information given to them wasfalse but they have ignored that also. The family were wondering, therefore, whether they had any rights orthere was a protocol which CO and/or the doctors, etc hadn’t been followed or .. . . . .?

Thank you

[des8]

Re: Procedure - certifying a death

So really the family have concerns about the care home.
Assuming it is in England I would consider contacting the Care Quality Commission: http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/contact-us
I am surprised at the doctor's refusal to speak to the family.
If he is a member of a local practice they could raise their concerns initially with the practice manager.

[Wilberforce]

Re: Procedure - certifying a death

I’ve just spokenagain to the family.

They are alreadydealing with the ‘care’ issues with the providers. Apparently that was why the death was passedto the coroner’s office even though the doctors denied any knowledge as to whythey were involved.

The family isconcerned: that according to CO the doctors should havediscussed the certificate’s contents with them and given them the opportunityto query or discuss additions to the ‘contributing factor’, but doctors and ‘head’of organization have completely stonewalled on this; that because CO said thiswas necessary, it committed to arrange discussions but failed to followthrough; and that CO was required, it said, to receive the family’s OK on the certificatebefore releasing it. However, none ofthis occurred and, even though CO was aware of concerns (and it had contactedthe family to obtain just such info) it completely ignored them. CO also ignored proof that the care provider,in effect, lied to them.

Unsurprisingly thefamily feels this is ‘odd’ for all sorts of reasons: why did CO contact them in the first place iftheir comments/concerns were ignored; why have doctors avoided discussion withthem; why did CO not do as it committed to do both in terms of arrangingdiscussions and awaiting their outcome before processing the certificate, etc,etc?

I thought, maybethere was a protocol or some such that is followed in such situations withdoctors, coroner’s office, etc which requires sign-off at each discussion stageor regulations which the parties have to follow?

[des8]

Re: Procedure - certifying a death

There seems to be some uncertainty about why the CO was involved.
I can only assume that eventually the coroner was satisfied with the death certificate and so decided the cause of death was clear and no post mortem was necessary.

Other than following through with the care aspect, I doubt there is much to be done although the doctor's attitude is odd.

" that CO was required, it said, to receive the family’s OK on the certificate before releasing it"
The CO would not need their agreement, although he might ask for their views and comments

[Wilberforce]

Re: Procedure - certifying a death

Thanks I'll pass that on