Who Signs the Death Certificate?    

Q: My patient died at the Emergency Department. Am I responsible to sign his/her death certificate?

A: Physicians sometime balk when asked to sign a patient's death certificate because they were not present when the patient died.

In California, the "attending physician" is responsible for signing and delivering the death certificate to the funeral director within 15 hours of the death. This should be the physician who has the most complete and recent knowledge of the decedent. It may not be the physician present at the time of death, but the one who regularly treated the decedent. This is often a family physician, but may also be a specialist who has a good knowledge of the decedent's medical history. Signing the death certificate is not a standard of care issue nor related to medical professional liability.

Other situations:

• The death certificate must indicate the existence of any cancer in the deceased.


• If the death meets certain criteria, the county's coroner will assume the responsibility for determining the cause of death and, in most cases, will also sign the death certificate.


• A physician may disclose private health information (PHI) to a coroner or medical examiner for the purpose of identification, or determining cause of death.


• The attending physician may be unavailable or on vacation. The physician who has agreed to cover for the attending physician should assume the responsibility, if necessary, to certify the death of that doctor's patient. It may be necessary to obtain the patient records from the attending's office staff and attempt to speak to the attending.


• A death certificate is also required in the case of a stillborn delivery when the fetus is twenty weeks or more.