Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 13 May 2003

Vol. 566 No. 3

Written Answers. - Death Certificates.

Ruairí Quinn

Ceist:

358 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Health and Children the guidelines his Department has communicated to medical practitioners in respect of the completion of a medical certificate of the cause of death pursuant to the Births and Deaths Registration (Ireland) Act 1880 with particular reference to the cause or antecedent cause of death which can, in certain circumstances, have implications for pension and death grant entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13008/03]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The Births and Deaths Acts 1863 to 1996 and regulations made under those Acts set out the manner in which deaths must be registered. The person registering the death, the qualified informant must produce to the registrar a medical certificate of cause of death signed by a registered medical practitioner who treated the deceased within 28 days before the death. Medical certificates of cause of death must be issued on prescribed forms, supplied for this purpose by An tArd-Chláraitheoir. Notes and suggestions supplied with the prescribed forms for the guidance of medical practitioners, explain that a medical certificate of cause of death is essentially: a statement of the disease which was directly responsible for the death and a statement of any antecedent diseases or causes giving rise to the disease or condition directly leading to the death.

Other significant conditions, which unfavourably influenced the course of the morbid process and thus contributed to the fatal outcome, but which were not related to the disease or condition directly causing death, must be entered in Part II of the cause of death section of the certificate.

A registrar, who receives a medical certificate of cause of death is obliged to register a cause of death as certified by the medical practitioner. I have met the IPU and am aware of its concerns regarding the future development of pharmacy services. Officials of my Department have also been engaged in a series of meetings with the IPU. I established the pharmacy review group, which included a representative of the IPU, in November 2001 to examine the pharmacy issues raised in the OECD report on regulatory reform in Ireland. The group, chaired by Professor Michael Mortell, based its approach on the principles set out for evidence-based policy formulation by the EU-level Mandelkern Group, The Mandelkern Group on Better Regulation Final Report, 13 November 2001. These include public and interest group consultation; analysis of the existing position; analysis of possible options.

The group consulted widely and invited submissions from consumer interests and special interest groups such as the Asthma Society and the Irish Heart Foundation. The pharmacy review group submitted its report on 31 January 2003. I am currently examining the recommendations contained in the report, and it is my intention that it will be published as soon as possible. Deputies will appreciate that it would be not be appropriate for me to comment on the report's recommendations before publication.