What does "Not Certified" on a DC actually mean?

[kevinf2349]

Hi everyone,

I have a death certificate and on the cause of death it says 'phthisis not certified'. All the other death certificates I have all say 'certified' so I was wondering what 'not certified' actually means.

Does it literally mean that no doctor confirmed or certified the death? If so, how does that happen? I thought all deaths had to be certified?

Any help will be much appreciated

Kevin

[iluleah]

According to the death tutorial

In the early days of registration all the deaths were uncertified. The informant simply gave the cause as they saw it.

It is still possible to have a death not certified by a doctor in which case it is still the informant who is supposed to tell the registrar what the cause of death was. If you have a death certificate without the name of a certifiying doctor and it was not a post mortem or an inquest then you have an uncertified death. They are pretty rare today - but the sort of situation in which you would have an uncertified death would be where a person died at home at the weekend - they had only been treated by the one doctor from their surgery and that doctor went on holiday for a fortnight starting that weekend. In that case there is no other doctor who can legally sign a certificate. The coroner would then be notified - but if he decides after looking into the matter that there is no need for a post mortem then you would have an uncertified death.

[stanmapstone]

Until 1874 entering the cause of death was not a legal requirement, but from 1874 a doctor's certificate was necessary before a death certificate could be issued. Between 1858 and 1874 the entry should indicate whether the cause had been 'certified' or 'not certified' by a medical practitioner. See  http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=683765.msg5281546#msg5281546

This is what the 1874 Act states:
(2.) 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:




Stan