On September 9th, 2024, significant reforms to the death certification process in England and Wales came into effect. These changes aim to improve the accuracy of death certifications and provide greater transparency, particularly in response to past high profile cases.
Here are four key aspects of the new process:
- Role of the Medical Examiner: Every death that is not referred to a coroner must now be independently reviewed by a medical examiner. These examiners are senior medical practitioners who will scrutinise the cause of death as recorded by the attending practitioner. This new step adds a layer of oversight to ensure the accuracy of death certifications.
- New Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD): The MCCD has been updated to include additional information such as the details of the attending practitioner, ethnicity, and whether the deceased had any medical devices or implants. This updated certificate aims to provide more comprehensive data for public health monitoring.
- Death Registration Timeline: The five-day period for registering a death will now begin only after the medical examiner or coroner has notified the registrar of the cause of death. This change allows families more time to understand and raise any concerns about the cause of death before it is officially registered.
- Family Involvement: The reforms encourage greater involvement of bereaved families, allowing them to communicate directly with the medical examiner if they have concerns about the death certification.
These changes are intended to strengthen public trust in the death certification process and improve the overall quality of mortality data collected in the UK.
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The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Wills & Probate.
