Doctors to issue 'fast track' death certificates for swine flu

When Peacenik first started monitoring the bird flu there were fear mongering stories that the funeral industry would not be able to keep up with a surge of flu pandemic fatalities. There would not be enough caskets. There would not be enough funeral homes. There would be mass graves. Looks like doctors, in the early stages of the swine flu pandemic, can't even cope with regular death certificates. This does not bode well. Peacenik doesn't want to be buried casketless in a mass grave.

Doctors to issue 'fast track' death certificates for swine flu

Doctors are to be allowed to issue "fast-track" death certificates under Government plans to help the health system cope with the workload at the height of the swine flu pandemic.

Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, confirmed the planned move in an interview on BBC's Newsnight.

"We want to try and reduce as much as possible the burden of work on doctors and we're considering all sorts of things which wil help with that," he said. "It's one of a number of things that we hope at the height of the pandemic - which we may see in the autumn and winter - will reduce the burden of paperwork for doctors."

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