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Location: Southeast, United States

I'm a Funeral Services graduate embarking on a new career. I graduated high school in 1981, served honorably in the United States Navy from 1982-1986, been married since 1986, and have one son. I've relocated to a new state and have begun working in my chosen profession of Funeral Services, and I've never been happier.

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Tuesday, June 05, 2012

The Doctor Is Stressing Me Out

Almost a week ago (it was last Thursday), I sat down with a family to make their arrangements. They wanted a cremation, with a gathering of friends and family at the funeral home with cremated remains present. I told them the end of the following week (which is now this current week) would be a good time. They decided on this Thursday. This would give us time to get the death certificate signed and the cremation performed. That very afternoon we got the death certificate to the doctor. I called Friday to follow up on it, and was told it wasn't signed yet, but would be by the end of the day. I emphasized the importance of having this completed. I called Monday to make sure it had been signed. I was told not yet, but it would be by the end of the day. Again, I explained the urgency of the situation. I called this morning (Tuesday) to check up on it, and was told it wasn't signed yet but to call back after lunch. I said I would, and explained the importance of getting this finished.I called back after lunch and was told it wasn't signed yet, but it would be by the end of the day. When I left work, I still did not have it. If it's not signed tomorrow morning, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm afraid to tear the doctor's office a new one, because that won't help my cause at all, but they don't seem to understand how badly I need this certificate. Without it I cannot get cremation approval, and without that I absolutely cannot get the cremation performed. Worse case scenario, I have approval by the end of the day tomorrow. I can still cremate Thursday morning and have the cremated remains for the afternoon gathering, but that's cutting it much closer than I like. The absolute worse case scenario is no cremated remains present at the gathering. I don't want to disappoint the family, but I did tell them getting the doctor to sign is the only part of the entire process that is beyond my control. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i feel your frustration! I don't know what the laws are where you are, but in my State, a D/C must be signed within 36 hours from the time death occurs. Not that this pressures the doctors to sign within that amount of time! I wish there was something that would put some pressure on them tho! Again, not sure how busy your M.E. is, but here they are always slammed! so needless to say, most of the time they are NOT happy individuals! I dread calling there. But, I have faxed cremation permits over to be approved and have waited days, calling each day and re-faxing each day! All the while the poor deceased is is at the crematory waiting. I have called the M.E only to be told "we have over 200 permits here to be signed, so....". How can they possibly have that many NOT signed! And wouldn't you imagine that each funeral home is calling and bugging the crap outta them to get their permits back!

5:39 PM  
Blogger Granimore said...

The law here is that the DC is due five days from the date of death, but we are allowed to file an extension of 5 business days. By law the doctor has 3 business days to sign once the certificate is in his hands. We rarely have issues with doctors going past the extended deadline. Most of the time the rush is when the director has promised the cremation *will* occur by a certain date, then we have to pester the doctor to sign in time.

7:10 PM  

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