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Can a death certificate be changed?

36 replies

Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 21:33

Posting here for traffic

Ive tried to find this on Google but nothing seems to answer my question

Can a cause of death on a death certificate be changed and if so what is the process and how long does it take roughly

I am not the person wanting this change on a death certificate.

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Todayiamlexie · 15/05/2023 21:35

You can apply for some changes, if incorrect, but cause of death is either determined by the doctor or coroner.

How was it originally certified?

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Smartiepants79 · 15/05/2023 21:35

I’d doubt it unless some kind of crime suddenly came to light that changed the cause of death?
why on earth would you want to change a death certificate.
Its pretty formal legal document, doubt you can mess with it except under very specific circumstances.

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 21:38

@Smartiepants79 as I said in my original post I am not the person wanting the change. The deceased person died of covid and they were cremated.

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Hellocatshome · 15/05/2023 21:38

Very very rarely. It is not uncommon for people in the immediate aftermath of a loved ones death to fixate on the cause of death on a death certificate and want it changed. BUT it rarely happens and is rarely helpful in anyway.

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Todayiamlexie · 15/05/2023 21:41

I can't see it's possible then. I had plenty of clients over covid who were not happy with the cause of death on the certificates, and the coroner's advice to at least one was to just let it go.

The doctor certifying had to follow the guidelines at the time. The registrar just copies what is on the doctor's certificate.

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SmirnoffIceIsNice · 15/05/2023 21:42

When someone dies, either the hospital doctor or GP provides a MCCD (Medical Certificate of Cause of Death), or it is referred to a coroner who determines how the death occurred. Are you disputing the cause of death given? I wonder what issues this would cause if the deceased has already been cremated/buried? Are you able to elaborate why someone wants the death certificate changed?

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 21:43

So let’s just say there was grounds or whatever to change it, hypothetically speaking, is this something that would take a long time to go through, I.e. months?

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 21:43

No I’m not disputing the cause of death

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Todayiamlexie · 15/05/2023 21:46

What corrections can be madeYou cannot change a death certificate once it’s been issued, but you can apply to get a note added to the original entry in the death register.
You can then get an updated certificate issued that shows this note.
Corrections to a death registration can only be made when the information is wrong (for example a mistake in spelling a person’s name).

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SmirnoffIceIsNice · 15/05/2023 21:46

I'm a funeral arranger and once someone wanted a detail changed on the death certificate (not cause of death). The registrar said it would take Many weeks for a simple change. I'm not sure how the cause of death could be changed as the deceased in your case is no longer here for the body to be examined further. The doctor would need to agree to it too, you can't just change it to what you'd like it to say.

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Todayiamlexie · 15/05/2023 21:46

That's from the government website. You can't simply apply to change the cause of death.

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 22:01

Thanks everyone for clarifying things for me. I know I’ve been a bit elusive so I’ll briefly explain why I’m asking -

my lovely father died 18 months ago from covid. The cause of death was multiple organ failure, caused by covid. My mother is a horrible horrible person, nasty, self obsessed, attention seeking, she treated my dad like shit apart from when she wanted something and he was loyal to the end. She absolutely hates nurses, even tho she was a nurse herself and is never out the doctors surgery for various ailments that don’t exist or that she exaggerates. It’s more important for her to be right than for her to accept the truth. I have not spoken to her for over a year and have no intention of ever talking to her again. I have 2 grown up daughters. My eldest who is 25 was very close to my dad, her papa. My mother resented this for years. She spends all day fighting with strangers on Facebook while she’s drunk, especially if it’s a medical news story. She has completely used my dads death to get attention for herself. Anyway to cut to the chase, as soon as he died she started lambasting all medical staff saying they killed my dad and he didn’t have covid. There was no talking to her. My daughter has mild autism and still gets very upset about her papa. My mother told my daughter that her abs my brothers got a meeting with the hospital, it was agreed he didn’t die from covid and a doctor was struck off and his death certificate was changed. I knew right away this was a load of bullshit. But my daughter is so upset by it all and I wanted to be able to show her that what my mother is saying is not true. There’s no point in confronting my mother about it as she’s a nasty venomous witch. I just want to put my daughters mind at rest

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Hellocatshome · 15/05/2023 22:18

Can you apply for a copy of the death certificate to show your daughter that what your mother is saying isn't true.

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 22:26

Yes I could but my mother is so evil that she will somehow twist her story. Honestly I feel like I’m banging my head off a brick wall with her, she amount of carnage she causes is unreal.

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SmirnoffIceIsNice · 15/05/2023 22:29

Sounds like your mother is talking out of her arse OP. The death certificate may list a few things that contributed to the death, so organ failure may be listed and Covid probably will be too. You can go online and order a copy of the certificate to see what it says.

I'm so sorry for your loss, and the fact your mother is making things worse.

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Usetherightgearforthehill · 15/05/2023 22:31

If you applied for the death certificate you should be able to find the name of the doctor who signed it. Then, unless it's an incredible common name, it shouldn't be too hard to track them down and see that they haven't been struck off. At one time the GOC had a search function to search the register for opticians to see if they were properly registered/struck off etc. They probably still do and it's possible the GMC have one for doctors?

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 22:33

I’ve seen the original certificate, cause of death is multiple organ failure. Contributing causes are covid pneumonia and a type of vasculitis he had. The staff at the hospital were wonderful with him, he was so well taken care of and spotless clean. He did go into hospital then he discharged himself, I think he knew he was going to die and wanted to go home. Then my brother rushed him back in the next day as he couldn’t breathe. He was put in a coma and died 17 days later. My mother is going around telling everyone they just flung him out to die, they didn’t, he discharged himself.

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SmirnoffIceIsNice · 15/05/2023 22:33

Usetherightgearforthehill · 15/05/2023 22:31

If you applied for the death certificate you should be able to find the name of the doctor who signed it. Then, unless it's an incredible common name, it shouldn't be too hard to track them down and see that they haven't been struck off. At one time the GOC had a search function to search the register for opticians to see if they were properly registered/struck off etc. They probably still do and it's possible the GMC have one for doctors?

The doctors name won't be on the death certificate, only the registrars name. The doctors name will be on the MCCD that is sent to the registrar, but that name isn't transferred to the death certificate.

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 22:34

Usetherightgearforthehill · 15/05/2023 22:31

If you applied for the death certificate you should be able to find the name of the doctor who signed it. Then, unless it's an incredible common name, it shouldn't be too hard to track them down and see that they haven't been struck off. At one time the GOC had a search function to search the register for opticians to see if they were properly registered/struck off etc. They probably still do and it's possible the GMC have one for doctors?

We’re in Scotland so I don’t know if it’s different. I do have a photo of his original certificate somewhere, I needed it for something just after he died. Plus I would assume that a process like an investigation and striking a doctor off would be a lengthy process and possibly in newspapers 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Usetherightgearforthehill · 15/05/2023 22:36

Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 22:34

We’re in Scotland so I don’t know if it’s different. I do have a photo of his original certificate somewhere, I needed it for something just after he died. Plus I would assume that a process like an investigation and striking a doctor off would be a lengthy process and possibly in newspapers 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Oh absolutely, its impossible to turn up to a meeting and the doctor to suddenly be struck off

But I figured if you could show your daughter that the GMC or equivalent had them as not stuck off she might believe that?

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AnnaMagnani · 15/05/2023 22:40

Striking a doctor off takes years and is not going to happen over something like a dispute over cause of death.

I doubt the GMC would even be interested in that, even if they were the doctor could do a relevant course to show they had learned and that would be the end of it.

What can happen is that a relative disputes the cause of death immediately when the MCCD is written. Usually then some kind of wording that pleases everyone is come up with - or if the relative wants something that just isn't true they get told no - and that MCCD is handed to the Registrar who issues the actual Death Certificate.

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Minihippyme89 · 15/05/2023 22:40

Usetherightgearforthehill · 15/05/2023 22:36

Oh absolutely, its impossible to turn up to a meeting and the doctor to suddenly be struck off

But I figured if you could show your daughter that the GMC or equivalent had them as not stuck off she might believe that?

Show quote history

I’ll have a wee look tomorrow and see what I can find out. To be honest I want to get this sorted out quickly, firstly to put my daughters mind at rest and secondly because I am fed up dealing with this woman’s bullshit.

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SycophantsUnite · 15/05/2023 22:45

A GMC investigation alone takes a LOT of time. The one I was a witness for took two years to reach the tribunal itself and even longer for all the paperwork to be published afterwards. So there's proof about that at the very least. If you read the MPTS reports online you can see the times lines and the huge waits between incident and tribunal.

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iklboo · 15/05/2023 23:11

Sorry for your loss and all this upset OP.

All doctors practising in the UK must be registered with the GMC. There is no 'equivalent' for UK regulator, even in Scotland.

A doctor absolutely CANNOT be 'suddenly struck off'. It's a lengthy investigation process and as PP has said, the decision is the decision of the MPTS not the GMC. Certainly not the bloody hospital and definitely not at a resolution meeting. The hospital can't change the death certificate either. How the fuck would they know / agree he didn't die of Covid if your dad was cremated - especially if there was no post mortem.

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MotorOilHeiress · 15/05/2023 23:13

Here is a link to a gmc hearings page so if you know the doctors name u can see if he has had a hearing or tribunal

https://www.mpts-uk.org/hearings-and-decisions

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