In “We need to talk about dying” (May 25), the need for a pathway for the dying is mentioned. It would be nice if this pathway included what happens after death.
Standard medical practice currently violates nine out of 10 of the Health and Disability Commissioner’s code of consumers’ rights. The code includes the right to be free from exploitation and coercion, the right to independence, to effective communication, to be fully informed, to support, etc.
Families are unthinkingly sent to the funeral industry to get basic after-death paperwork done, exposing them to “professional service fees” for what are essentially very simple paperwork requirements.
Pre-cremation paperwork is at the heart of the current dysfunction. The medical referee system requires the sign-off of a second, designated doctor before cremation. This is now generally covered by funeral businesses– for a fee – but could be handled by the doctor who signed the death certificate. Doctors should also provide basic advice around burial paperwork and death registration.
We have had doctors trial proper duty-of-care when attending a death. They were more than pleased to spend two extra
