§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) whether he will take steps to remove the requirement that two doctors should sign cremation forms in the case of patients who die in hospital;
(2) whether he will take steps to remove the requirement that two doctors should sign cremation forms in the case of patients upon whom post mortem examinations are carried out.
§ Mr. MellorI have been asked to reply.
The medical certificate in form B and the confirmatory certificate in form C were originally designed to prevent cremation being used for the concealment of crime. The possibility of simplifying these requirements has been under consideration for many years. Most recently the Home Office undertook extensive discussions with funeral and cremation interests, other interested Government Departments and the British Medical Association about the possible abolition of form C in the case of deaths in hospital, but, unfortunately, no agreement could be reached. The suggestion that the cremation of the bodies of persons upon whom hospital post mortem examinations have been carried out should not require a confirmatory certificate is a new one which we will consider. Abolition of both medical certificates would be dependent upon the introduction of an improved system of medical certification of the fact and cause of death on the lines recommended by the committee on death certification and coroners—the Brodrick committee.