It is farcical to know that here in Sri
Lanka, that you cannot bury or cremate without a death certificate, and worse,
you cannot do the normal procedures of handling the affairs of the deceased
until the death certificate is obtained.
If one reads the link, if the Government
Analyst has NOT been able to ascertain the cause of death, a death certificate
CANNOT be issued. Everyone agrees that the person has died, and his body is
there as evidence, so why don’t they issue a death certificate so that the next
of kin can get on with the normal arrangements.
The death certificate MAY state that the
Cause of death is yet unknown, and that is up to some investigation, and that
is acceptable for paying out of certain life insurance policies. Further if
there is some foul play that resulted in the death, then the Death Certificate
may give some indication that the Body cannot be cremated as it may be required
to be exhumed for future investigation if the need arises. Further certain body
parts may be held for investigation, if there is cause to do so.
Lets face it. You only have to read the
link to the actually incidents that were reported in last Sunday’s Times, to
realize that it is ridiculous for people to suffer due to the natural delays at
the Government Analysts department, which can be due to many different reasons.
Sometimes due to the lack of scientific testing equipment, it may be required
to send samples overseas for investigation as to the cause of death, as it
could result in a crime being committed or some similar unknown event that
requires further investigation.
A person is dead and if there is
evidence of death ISSUE A DEATH CERTIFICATE, and issue a cause of death
certificate later if the cause of death is uncertain. IT IS IMPORTANT that the
decent, civilized procedure is adopted so that the next of kin can get on with their
lives, if someone dies, and not have to suffer doubly due to PROCEDURAL issues of
State, that may take a long period of time that has NOT relevance to the needs at
hand as illustrated in the particular cases used as examples in the link above.
If the rules change, there is a likelihood
that the Toxicology reports may take even longer as there will be no one chasing
them up, and if there is a murder enquiry, even the murderer could have died by
the time the report is issued. BUT THEN!
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