Are we ready for medical examiner reforms for neonatal death certification?

Neonatal death is a tragic event that has a profound impact on the family. Issuance of a death certificate is an essential step in the bereavement and legal process, to enable closure for the loved ones. As medical practitioners, it is paramount to provide accurate and sensitive death certificates. It is very important that the most accurate picture possible for the complex train of events leading to a neonatal death is drawn from the summary that the death certificate provides.¹

Shanvir Mann
Paediatric Specialty Doctor, Sheffield Children’s Hospital

Gee-Na Beeston
Medical student, University of Sheffield Medical School

Simon Clark
Consultant Neonatologist, Sheffield Teaching Hospital

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Keywords

death certificates; bereavement; legal; neonatal death; medical examiners; medical certificate of cause of death

Key points

Issuance of a death certificate is an essential step in the bereavement and legal process.
Reforms commenced on 9 September, 2024.
When a baby dies less than 29 days old, they are issued with an infant death certificate.

Also published in Infant:

VOLUME 15/ISSUE 2, MARCH 2019

Comparing international survival rates of extremely preterm infants: the impact of variation in reporting signs of life

There is wide international variation in reported survival rates of extremely preterm infants. However, some of this variation might be related to local differences in decisions about whether a baby born at the threshold of survival is considered to be live-born and consequently whether the death is reported as a stillbirth or neonatal death. This variation results in biased comparisons of survival rates.