Widow forced to verify husband’s death on video call because GP would not visit
Woman was told that doctors 'don't come out any more' and to hold phone camera to the deceased's body
An elderly widow was forced to certify her husband’s death via video call after a GP said they
“don’t come out any more”.
The patient, who was 80 and had been dying from cancer, passed away at home shortly after 4pm on a weekday earlier in August.
His wife, who had been caring for him at home, immediately called her local GP and was told the doctor would “be in touch shortly”.
But when the GP phoned back more than one and a half hours later he said he
would not be coming to the house.
Moira Evans, the widow’s friend who was there at the time and has spoken to The Telegraph, said: “He then sent a link to a video chat… [and said] ‘hold the camera to the dead body’.
“My friend at this point said ‘I can’t, can you do it please Moira?’, and so I did it.”
The GP explained “they don’t come out any more to certify death, that you have to do it yourself on a smartphone”, Mrs Evans said.
Temporary measures lifted in March
Temporary measures for completing medical certificates of cause of death during the pandemic were lifted in March 2022.
The current official requirements, set by HM Passport Office, state: “Seeing the deceased after death (ie viewing the body) will need to be in person and includes verifying the death.”
An NHS spokesman said: “Verification of death should be carried out in person by a qualified health professional in a sensitive and compassionate manner.”
Some patients have
struggled to access their GP since the start of the pandemic, with some practices still restricting patients from having face-to-face appointments.
The latest official figures show around 65 per cent of
GP appointments were held in person in July, the highest proportion since March 2020 (66 per cent). However, the figure is still well below the pre-pandemic average of around 80 per cent.
Dennis Reed, of the campaign group Silver Voices, said it was “absolutely staggering” that a vulnerable person was asked to video their deceased husband.
“I wonder how accurate these sorts of things are,” he said.
“You're basically asking the individual to certify the death of their own partner and, in a traumatic situation, that is completely outrageous.
“What if there were some faint life signs that could be determined by somebody actually visiting?”
He said the ordeal shows “how impersonal the NHS is becoming.
“There appears to be hardly any limits as to what has to be done virtually rather than through the personal touch.”
Hold phone to man's face
Mrs Evans said she was requested to hold the phone to the man’s face and the doctor then asked: “Can you hold it a bit lower so I can see his chest?”
Less than a minute later after the video call started the doctor said “okay I’ve seen enough”, she added.
He then explained they would issue the death certificate and someone from the medical centre would be in touch about when they can go and collect it.
They were then able to tell the undertakers that the GP had seen the man on video and could they come and collect the body.
“The
procedure of having to do this on video, we were just gobsmacked,” Mrs Evans explained.
“You just assume that when somebody dies in your home that somebody's going to come out and say: ‘Pat, pat, there, there, and have a tiny bit of compassion in there,” she said.
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