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48
The abolition of free vaccination would enormously increase the difficulties at
present met in dealing with Small.pox, as many persons, willing and even anxious to
avail themselves of the protection afforded, would be prohibited therefrom, through lack
of means, to pay for the necessary medical service.
Moreover, the admission of unvaccinated persons into such public services as the
Navy, Army, or Public Health is most undesirable, for reasons upon which it is not
necessary here to enlarge.
The Bill, which received little support, was dropped before the second reading.
THE DEATHS REGISTRATION AND BURIALS BILL.
The above, which was a private Bill, was ordered to be printed by the House of
Commons on the 27th March, 1913, and was described as "a Bill to amend the Law
" relating to the registration of Deaths and to Burials."
Its main object was to guard against crime and premature burial, and with this
end in view gave effect to the principal Recommendations of the Select Committee on
Death Certification.
This Committee, which gave considerable time to the consideration of the question,
was much impressed with the weighty opinions of the witnesses who appeared before
it, and having regard to the serious possibilities implied in the present system which
permits death and burial to take place without the production of satisfactory medical
evidence of death, arrived at the conclusion that means should be devised whereby a
medical certificate should be obtained in every case of death not certified by a registered
medical practitioner in attendance.
The Departmental Committee on Coroners which sat in 1909, also was of opinion
that a certificate of death should not be accepted from a medical practitioner unless it
stated that he had by personal examination of the body satisfied himself as to the fact
of death.
As the law at present stands, he may certify merely on the information given him
by the relatives, there being no statutory obligation on his part to view the body.
In the course of these investigations the Departmental Committee on Coroners
accumulated evidence that indicated that many certificates have been carelessly or even
recklessly given.
The following were the main provisions of the Bill as submitted for the first
reading. Owing to pressure of other business, however, it did not reach a further stage.
1. The prohibition of registry of deaths without a proper certificate, which
means a certificate in prescribed form signed by a practitioner who attended the
deceased during his last illness, or where there was no such practitioner in
attendance, a certificate in prescribed form signed by the public certifier of death.
In the case of an inquest, there must be in addition to the Coroner's certificate,
a verification or certificate signed either by the public certifier of deaths or a
registered medical practitioner.