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108
DEATHS NOT CERTIFIED.
Six deaths, an unprecedentedly small number, were returned
as "not certified," the deceased persons not having been attended
in their last illness by any registered medical practitioner; viz. :
male, aged one day, from convulsions; male, aged 9 days, from
hemorrhage after circumcision; male, aged 11 weeks, from marasmus
; male, aged six months, from syphilitic cachexia, convulsions
; widow of a tailor, aged 39, from apoplexy, and a
bricklayer, aged 85, from natural decay. The several cases
were reported to the Coroner, who did not deem it necessary
to hold inquests.
The subject of uncertified deaths has, on more than one
occasion, been discussed by the Society of Medical Officers of
Health, and in December, 1880, the Society, on the recommendation
of the Council, to which the subject had been referred
for consideration, adopted the following resolution:—
" That all cases of uncertified death should be reported by the local
registrar of births and deaths to the Coroner, who should, when
there is no prima facie ground for holding an inquest, direct such
cases to be investigated by a registered medical practitioner."
It had been suggested that the duty of making the investigation
should devolve on the Medical Officer of Health, as a part
of his ordinary work, but the Society did not adopt this view.
Of all the unsatisfactory arrangements connected with the
subject of uncertified deaths, perhaps the most unsatisfactory
is the responsibility cast on the Coroner's Officer of making
a preliminary enquiry, and of being the de facto judge whether
an inquest should be held in any given doubtful case. The
Society at my instance adopted the following resolution
bearing on the subject:—
" That in the opinion of this Society, the present system of investigation
of deaths referred to a Coroner, vix., by an officer having no special
qualification for the discharge of the duty, is unsatisfactory."