[neverdem]

Another instance, my husband died at home of Alzheimers, with a Hospice nurse coming in regularly to monitor his condition and advise me. I was surprised to see on his death certificate that he died in an institution, and at home had been erased. You could still see a bit of the X that had been erased. Did some insitution profit from this mistake/lie??

Maybe, but I don't know. I was sorry to read about your husband. You have my sincere condolences.

I do know that in NY a physician had to fill out and sign the death certificate. When I was an intern I would get called to pronounce the terminal, do not resuscitate patients dead routinely. I would make a final note in the chart that there were no heartbeats or breath sounds heard, no pulse was felt, that pupils didn't react to light and that the patient didn't blink their eyes when touched with a cotton swab. The death certificate had to be completed before the funeral home could get the body. That was in 1994-95.I don't think I have done a death certificate since then.

Maybe that was the only way to get a death certificate completed, if a patient dies at home when their physician isn't at the patient's home? It would be different at hospitals without teaching programs.

[gleeaikin]

Thank you for your kind words. If I remember correctly, the home visitation Hospice nurse is the one who verified his death and spoke with his doctor at the VA hospital. Then I called the funeral home and had them come to take him for cremation. Both she and the VA doctor knew I was caring for him at home, so I have no idea how that was on the death certificate. The also put him as 45 years old rather than 75, which was in accord with dates of birth and death on the certificate. Can’t get good help these days.