§ 36. Mr. Sparksasked the Minister of Health if he is aware of the growing practice of some insurance companies who, 812 without requiring medical evidence, insure the lives of old-age pensioners who at the time are suffering from diseases which invalidate the claim; and if in these circumstances he will take steps to relieve medical practitioners from the duty of supplying insurance companies with certificates of the cause of death.
§ Miss Hornsby-SmithNo, Sir. My right hon. Friend is not aware of any statutory obligation upon medical practitioners to supply insurance companies with certificates of the cause of death.
§ Mr. SparksDo I understand the hon. Lady to say now that there is no statutory obligation on the medical practitioner to supply certificates setting out the cause of death in cases like this?
§ Miss Hornsby-SmithSo far as statutory obligations are concerned, the doctor has to notify the registrar of deaths and to inform the near relatives or a person present at the death that he has done so in the prescribed form of death certificate. Any obligation he may have to supply a certificate to the insurance company is a matter for arrangement between the doctor and the insurance company and does not come under statutory obligation.