A big cheer for Sarah (swmbo) who completed the London to Brighton charity Cycle ride yesterday raising an incredible £600 for the British Heart Foundation.

Just issued a death certificate for a patient. I had a look back through the previous stubs and of the 30 or so that were there, 2 were due to old age, 1 was due to a heart attack, and the rest were due to cancer.

Death certificates come in a book like cheques?

Yes, basically. A big book. A3 sized.

Last spoke to my aunt in March, she was a little forgetful and called me by my brother's name a couple of times.

Called my cousin last night to say I was planning to come over and visit and I was told not to bother calling my aunt, as the dementia is now so advanced that she can hardly get a sentence out.

I would still make a point of visiting. For all you know, seeing you may prompt an albeit temporary period of lucidity, (though I suspect that the medically trained forumites would no more about this than I) but also because it sounds like it may be your last chance to see her...

This is genuinely the something new I learned today.

Me too.

Lol never realised people would be fascinated by this. Here's a pic.



Obviously I can't show the inside for confidentiality reasons but you can see the stubs on the left.

'It's all red tape now, you know. In my day people just died...'

How much do you get for signing these days?

Why don't they use them for still-births or babies dying in the first 28 days? Just out of interest more than anything.

We don't. But if a patient has a cremation, there's a fee involved in filling in cremation forms, hence the term "ash cash" (have always hated the term).


There's a separate certificate for both. Historically, foetuses were never considered "people" until they're born (IIRC this changed in recent times) and had no legal rights. Technically, they were never born and hence never died so no proper certificate.

Back before 1837 when deaths were recorded formally in a register.

Thanks, I've learnt a few things there.