Importance of accurate death certificates (and frequently woeful absence of such)

[Janet]

Pretty interesting article in the New York Times today, I thought, regarding death certificates or at least the U.S. ones. They provide some famous examples too. Not sure how parallel it all is to other countries, but they certainly mention some distortions similar to complaints I've heard on here. Hope you can access the links.

NY Times on death certificates

some famous examples

[Jill]

An interesting read Janet, thankyou.

[Phoenix]

How true. Computers mean you put down a prescribed code, and if the description most appropriate doesn't fit, it gets changed.

Mortality bills were much more fun, even if some of the descriptions are difficult to understand.

On a serious point, it is a betrayal of the dead and contempt for their loved ones not to give an accurate description of death.

[marquette]

My mother and grandfather had to argue with the doctor to have Huntingdons Disease listed as a secondary cause of death for my grandmother - the listed cause of death is arteriosclerosis.

If the HD was not included, the death certificate ignored the years of suffering and hospitalisation of my grandmother.

[Olde Crone]

Indeed. My mother's death certificate records the cause of death as a heart attack. What no one will ever realise from that simple cause is that she was crippled with arthritis for many years and was taking massive doses of steroids long term.

My friend's father's death was recorded in the wrong first name by a care worker. The fuss entailed in trying to change that first name meant that it has been left as it is, so anyone ever looking for his death won't find it except by sheer luck - surname Smith.

OC

[Janet]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

On a serious point, it is a betrayal of the dead and contempt for their loved ones not to give an accurate description of death.

I do very much agree, Phoenix.

[anne fraser]

Janet I remember being shown a video on the subject many years ago as part of my nurse training. It seems very little has changed.

[Janet]

So was the video worth its salt, Anne? I wonder what it was intended to teach you.

I don't suppose there's too much can be done about bad death certs. It seems to be human nature to want to gloss over the facts and close the door. Di's and OC's stories are perfect examples of what's lost when that happens, though.

[Nell]

I don't think much of death certs. My grandfather's death, registered by my uncle, has his date of birth out by a year and a misspelt birthplace.

My brother's death, which I registered myself, annoyed me too - I was able to give his birthplace, Sanderstead, but his death (same house) was recorded as South Croydon because they've faffed about with the boundaries. Sanderstead and South Croydon have their own railway stations and are never confused by people who live there. But anyone who found his cert in years to come wouldn't know he was born and died in the same house as the registrar didn't even record the house number or road! It rankles, people!

[Olde Crone]

I suppose on the one hand, death certs are ONLY concerned with what a person died of, they are not intended to be a medical history of that person.

However, like Nell, I am endlessly annoyed and upset that my father's death cert contains such an obscure cause of death that it is meaningless - the registrar had to phone the doctor concerned, in my presence, to try to discover what the death cause meant. (Dad died of a massive unspecified infection which took him from cutting down trees on Sunday afternoon to dead by Monday night).

I am also intrigued as to how "they" can come up with such statistics as "One third of all deaths are smoking related" (or whatever it is) as this kind of information does not appear on death certs.

OC