THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their attention has been drawn to the case of a woman officially pronounced dead and put in a coffin and subsequently found to be alive; and whether they are satisfied that the procedure for the certification of death is adequate to prevent any person being buried alive.]
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HEALTH (LORD NEWTON)My Lords, the Regional Hospital Board has received a full report on the case to which my noble friend is referring and they are now considering it. The inquest held yesterday was adjourned until Friday December 20. It would not therefore be appropriate for me to offer any comment on the history of the case, but I can say that the procedure for certification of causes of death was not involved.
THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his Answer, may I ask whether Her Majesty's Government are aware that under present law a person may be pronounced dead by literally anyone and that there is no need for a doctor to view the corpse before signing the death certificate, provided he has been in attendance upon the deceased during his or her last illness? Are they further aware that in one in every fourth death of 100,000 deaths a year the certificate is (as it were) "signed blind" by the doctor, though admittedly this mostly takes place in hospitals? Will Her Majesty's Government not agree that if in one year, 1963, three cases have been reported of persons saved at the last moment from a living death, there may well have been others who might have been buried alive?
§ LORD NEWTONMy Lords, I am not quite clear what my noble friend means about pronouncement of death. So far as I know, the term "pronouncement of death" is not a recognised legal one. Perhaps I can tell your Lordships what the procedure is. No medical certificate of the causes of death can be issued unless the dead person was attended by a doctor during his last illness. Subject to that, a medical certificate may be issued without examination of the body. But if the dead person was not seen by the certifying doctor within fourteen days before death, that fact is reported to the coroner by the registrar of deaths, and the registrar will not then issue a disposal certificate.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the noble Earl who put down the Question, although his supplementary did not relate entirely to his original Question, is quite correct? A death certificate cannot be given unless a person has been attended by a doctor, but it is a fact that a death certificate can be given without the body having been seen by a doctor, and in fact the relations of the dead person can go to a doctor and say that in their opinion the patient is dead and the certificate can be issued. I think it is rather an important point.
§ LORD NEWTONMy Lords, the legal position is as I have described it to your Lordships and as I understand it to be. 105 The certificate of causes of death which a doctor may sign requires him to say:
I hereby certify that I was in medical attendance during the above-named deceased's last illness.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, my point is that while the doctor may have been in attendance—the doctor may be a very fine man or woman who has attended the patient month after month and day after day for a very long period—finally, when the death takes place, or is alleged to have taken place, let us say in the middle of the night, it is possible for the relations of the dead person to go to the doctor and say that in their opinion the patient is dead, and there is no obligation upon the doctor to see the corpse. The doctor can then or the next morning, if the so-called death has taken place in the middle of the night, issue the certificate, and the work of the undertakers and the whole machinery of burial begins to take place.
§ LORD NEWTONMy Lords, I do not want to put any gloss on the interpretation of the law as I gave it and as I am advised is correct. I cannot say anything more, either, about this particular case. But if facts should emerge in connection with this case, or indeed in connection with any other case, which seem to call for some change in the existing procedures, which have existed for a very long time, the Government will certainly consider the matter.
THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, in view of the considerable anxiety which I believe to have been caused over this particular death, and the fact—a major fact—that the British Medical Association have declared, though not yet officially, in favour of making it necessary for a doctor to inspect the corpse in every case before signing a certificate, will the Government consider introducing immediate legislation to put this wrong to right?
§ LORD NEWTONMy Lords, the procedure for certification of causes of death, which is the only procedure at issue, is at present under consideration by the medical profession, and I am not yet aware what the result of their deliberations is.
THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, may I quote it to the noble Lord. It 106 is in the British Medical Journal, Clause 3 of the summary of recommendations from the Private Practice Committee—
THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, may I assure the Government that this is the view of the British Medical Association?
EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLS-BOROUGHMy Lords, would it not be as well to leave this matter until we know what transpires? It seems to me a little unseemly.
§ LORD NEWTONMy Lords, I whole-heartedly agree with the noble Earl.