Requesting a Death Certificate
Death certificates can be requested through Summit County Public Health.
http://scph.org/birth-death-records
Indigent Assistance Information
If a deceased is indigent and family has no means to pay for funeral expenses, please contact the Medical Examiner’s Office to advise them of the situation. There is assistance available to those in need.
Every city, township or municipality, by law, has to have indigent funding that family can apply for. Each municipality has different rules and amounts that they will pay. In most cases, the deceased cannot own any property, such as a house or vehicle.
Most indigents that qualify will be eligible for a direct cremation. This does not allow for funeral viewing and/or services. In most instances, obituaries are not permissible.
Legal next of kin is required to fill out necessary paperwork for the funeral home, i.e. cremation authorization, death certificate information and release forms.
Physician Guidance for Death Certification
Completion of an accurate death certificate is the final act of caring for your patients. A physician who has established a relationship with a person, and worked with that person to improve his or her health, will have the best understanding of the natural processes that played a role in the patient's death. The cause of death statement on the death certificate is an expression of the physician's opinion as to the most likely sequence of events and contributing conditions that ultimately resulted in death. Because many natural deaths do not occur under the direct supervision of a physician, educated opinions must be rendered based on available information and the absence of evidence of other explanations.
Extensive guidance relating to the proper completion of the death certificate has been published by the Centers for Disease Control, the State Medical Board of Ohio, and the National Association of Medical Examiners. Links to these guiding documents are below. The board-certified forensic pathologists at the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office are also available to assist you with any questions you may have.
Answers to frequently asked questions:
1. Primary care doctors/treating physicians are expected to sign the death certificates when they have seen the patient in the previous 12 months. If greater than 12 months have elapsed since the most recent visit, the physician likely still knows the patient better than the Medical Examiner’s Office staff and may still opine as to the cause of death. Otherwise, the Medical Examiner's Office may request all medical records in order to complete the death certificate, as laid out in the Ohio Revised Code.
2. If a fall or other injury is believed to have contributed to the death, the manner of death would be ruled Accident, and the death certificate must be completed by the Medical Examiner’s Office.
3. The Cause of Death is the underlying disease or injury process that sets off the cascade of events ultimately resulting in death. Mechanisms such as arrhythmias and heart failure must be ascribed to the likely underlying cause, such as hypertension, arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, etc.
4. Qualifying words such as "probable" and “possible” are acceptable terms to use with sudden unexpected natural deaths. For example, a previously healthy 70 year old with mild hypertension found deceased in bed could be ruled as "Probable arrhythmia due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease".
5. If the exact sequence of events or mechanism is unknown, the phrase "Complications of…" may be used. For example, a patient with end-stage liver disease or metastatic cancer who was found deceased may be ruled as "Complications of end-stage liver disease" or "Complications of stage IV lung cancer", with any additional natural contributing diseases listed in Part II (Other Significant Conditions).
6. Physicians with only training licenses may not fill out the death certificate. Only a physician with an active medical license may complete the form.
Helpful links:
Hamilton County Coroner Video: "Death Certificate Final 1"
https://vimeo.com/906548474?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=May_2024_eNews&utm_medium=email#video_1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Physicians’ Handbook on Medical Certification of Death”
http://cdc.gov/nchs/data/misc/hb_cod.pdf
National Association of Medical Examiners page on Death Certificate completion
http://thename.org/death-certification
State Medical Board of Ohio statement “Regarding the Signing of Death Certificates by the Attending Physician” (PDF available below)
Ohio Revised Code Section 3705.16
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3705.16
