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5
By the 20th section of this Act (37 and 38 Vict., cap. 88) it is
enacted that:—
"In case of the death of any person who has been attended during his last illness
by a registered medical practitioner, that practitioner shall sign and give to some
person required by this Act to give information concerning the death, a certificate
stating to the best of his knowledge and belief the cause of death, and such person shall,
upon giving information concerning the death, or giving notice of the death, deliver
that certificate to the registrar, and the cause of death, as stated in that certificate,
shall be entered in the register, together with the name of the certifying medical
practitioner."
It is necessary, under this Act, that the certifying medical
practitioner shall be on the medical register, and that he shall have
been in attendance during the last illness of the deceased; it is also
required that the certificate be under the hand of the registered
practitioner himself, and not signed by any deputy, as no other person
whatever is authorized by law to sign such certificate in the
practitioner's behalf.
It is desirable that the medical certificate shall be on the official
form issued by the Registrar General, but this is not absolutely
necessary, and registrars are not authorised to refuse a medical
certificate on the ground of informality, provided it duly states the
cause of death, and is properly signed.
When no medical certificate is produced, and the Registrar
ascertains from the informant that a registered practitioner was in
attendance, he must require its production before registering the
death, as the refusal by the medical man to deliver the certificate is
prima facie evidence that he considers there is something suspicious
about the case; but as a certain number of persons die without having
any medical attendance during their last illness, the Registrar has
not power to refuse to register a death under these circumstances,
unless the death was sudden, or occasioned by violence, or neglect,
or occurred under suspicious circumstances, in all of which cases
notice must be given to the Coroner.
During the year 1877 Mr. Humphreys or his deputy held 211
inquests in Bethnal Green; of these 103 were violent deaths, while the
remainder occurred under circumstances that called for enquiry. In
addition to these, twenty deaths were registered without any medical
certificate, of which seventeen were those of infants a few days old,
the mothers having been attended by midwives only; the other three
were submitted to the Coroner, who, however, did not consider