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For people for religious reasons who need to buried within 24 hours of death, the registrar of births and deaths offers an emergency service for registration of death out of hours-no one is allowed to be buried without the paperwork from the registrar of births and deaths. If it is a coroners case then there is no short cut unless at the discretion of the coroner Hope that helps Harry ----- Original Message ----- From: Trefor Roscoe To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:25 AM Subject: Re: Does any religion object to signing cremation certificates? (GMC consultation) More importantly about the GMC proposals, if it applies to all deaths, there will have to be on call medical referees available at Bank Holiday weekends to get the GP to go into the surgery to unlock the notes so those whose religion expects burial within 24 hours can have their wishes adhered to. Actually, what happens to devout Jews and Moslems who die after 5 on a Friday, is the death registered after the burial???? Trefor -----Original Message----- From: GP-UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mary Hawking Sent: 29 August 2007 22:29 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Does any religion object to signing cremation certificates? (GMC consultation) Sorry, I started this thread - and the question was about GPC consultation. Among other things it stated that doctors should not refuse to sign cremation forms because of their own religious or personal objections to cremation. The question was whether there were any religions who had religious objections to cremation to the extent that they would refuse to sign cremation certificates for those who did not share their own beliefs. I could understand the moral issues raised by abortion - but cremation? Yet the GMC seemed to think that this was a serious problem of conscience for some doctors. The discussion on this list has been interesting and enlightening - but hasn't answered the question which was:- *Is* there a serious problem of principle and conscience for doctors in any religion in signing cremation certificates for those who do not share their beliefs? If so, which religion? And if not, why was it raised in the GMC consultation document? So far, the responses seem to indicate that although there may be objections within some religions or subsets of those religions to cremation for themselves these are not so overwhelming that they would refuse to sign them for relatives of deceased patients requesting cremation. Why is the GMC concerned? I can only assume that somewhere, some time, some doctor has refused to sign a part B (the own doctor bit) on religious or conscience grounds. Does anyone know whether this is true? Mary Hawking In message <[log in to unmask]>, Dr Peter von Kaehne <[log in to unmask]> writes >That makes sense. Having said this I find it odd that a totally private >matter, neither contractual nor statutory duty, is suddenly elevated to >this status. Particularly when there is significant disquiet about the >form as such (lnot the matter of cremation) and a fair number of people >been on record that the profession could simply cease to provide this >form until matters are finally improved. Is this pre-emptive? Will >there come a time when filling in of part C is also obligatory? > > >Peter > > > >Declan Fox wrote: > >> I can't remember, exactly. But I think it was me reading the proposed >> GMC guidance and the forms and thinking that if I could not give the >> right answers to allow cremation then that would mean that there was >> something _possibly_ suspicious about the death and someone would >> have to inform the coroner. >> Burying the deceased does not seem to be considered a suitable option >> by those who have made up their minds to have him/her cremated and it >> seems to me that the GMC is taking that line too---ie if the family >> want a cremation then the doctor _has_ to oblige and his only excuse >> for _not_ obliging is if he is unable to give the death a clean bill, >> as it were. In which case, in these post-Shipman days, that means >> calling the coroner. >> >> Declan >> >> >> <<<I still struggle ot understand why lack of crem form should lead >> to a coroner referral. >> >> I always thought if a crem form can not be signed the body will be >> enterred and that is the end of it. >> >> How did the coroner come into it?>>> > > >********************************************************************** >This message may contain confidential and privileged information. >If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies. >Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail >or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly >prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform us that this message has >gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation. > >NHSmail is used daily by over 100,000 staff in the NHS. Over a million >messages are sent every day by the system. 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