THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5803, 24 September 1880, Page 3

THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

Drs Gillies (president), Mannsell, Borrows, and De Zouche, as a deputation from the Medical" Association, interviewed the Colonial Secretary respecting the Registration of Deaths Act Dr De Zodche said they wiehed to represent the views of tie Medical Association with regard to the registration of deaths, and that opinion was that tbe system wae very imperfect. The Hon. Mr Dick : Yes; I caw in the papers the resolutions which you passed, and have read them twice or thrice. Dr Gillies remarked that under the present Act it seemed that any person could give a certificate of death, aud that being bo, it was rather unfair that doctors should be compelled to give certificates of death under a penalty. He also pointed out that the Government, by making the givicg of a certificate compulsory, gave the medical profession, no quid pro qua for this service. Dr De Zouche considered that some fee should be allowed for this service thus rendered to the State, as was done for signing certificates of lunacy. The Hon. Mr Dick : What you wieb. to represent is that you are entitled to a fee for the certificate. Dr Gillies replied that that was only & j secondary consideration. The regulations, in his opiaioD, were altogether imperfect; they did not provide any sufficient check on crime. For instance, in poisoning cases it was probable that suspicion would not arise until eight or ten days after death, and that as the body could be interred without a medical certificate, before it was necessary for a medical certificate to be applied for decomposition would be so far advanced as to deetroy all trace of poison, and render a post mortem exammation worthless. The Hon. Mr Dick : I do not know whether you have read about the Christchurch cases, but you will see that there they were not very particular about stating the primary and eecocdary causes of death. # Dr Gillies said that in some cases it was impossible to make complete or satisfactory returns, for tbe history of cases often had to be obtained from statements made by acquaintances. Dγ Bokbows eaid that defective statements were partly to be explained by the irregular way in which certificates were applied for. In more than tbsee-f ourtbe of the cases the cerfci-

ficalea were not even applied i'or by friends, and not even by the undertaker until three or four weeks after the burial of the deceased. In one case the certificate was not applied for until six weeks after burial, and when euch a length of time elapsed and; the application was made by a person who could offjrd no information, tbe certificate could not be otherwise than defective.

Dr Maunsell . pointed oat that in case* of baby-farming the mcd teat man was only called in for the purpose of giving a certificate ; and that if a medical man only caw a child orxse, and if six or seven weeks after the child died he was aeked to give a certificate of its death, he was compelled under the Act to do bo, although it was then too lata to make inquiry into the c 4use of death. Dr De Zodche rcentioned that a case occurred at Home in which he had been asked to give a certificate of death and found fche child still alive. The Hon. Mr Dick : That is a case on the other side, of applying too early. Dγ Bobhows mentioned that a medical man now in Dunedin had at one time in England been inveigled into giving a certificate of death for a child which was alive; the certificate being used for the purpose of defrauding a Burial Society. At Home there was a check in addition to the registration, as the persons in charge of the burial grounds would not allow a body to be interred without a legal certificate of tbe causa of death was first produced. In this Colony the Registrar had power under the Act to authoriae the burial without reporting to the coroner.

The Hon. Mr Dick promised to irqnire into the matter on his return to Wellington, when ho would see the Registrar-general. If more information was required Lβ would correspond with the President of the Association.

Dr Borkows said that if the registrars were admonished to afford facilities to the profession in th< ir inquiries prior to giving certificates, it might stop these threats of prosecution. The Hon. Mr Dick said that that could be done, but they could not alter the law until the meeting of Parliament. Dγ Bobbows : I felt it very hard that the Registrar-general should not havd taken any notice of the complaints I made about the refusal of the Registrar here to send or to help me to bring the father of the child forward in my case. The Hon. Mr Dick : Yes; I will see about your cafe, Dr Borrows. Dr Maunseix paid that in many cases the application for the certificate was made by the undertaker, and that if the certificate was to be of any value the medical men must have every facility afforded for gaining infurma tion.