{"id":96098,"date":"2025-03-18T15:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T15:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=96098"},"modified":"2025-03-18T15:01:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T15:01:58","slug":"its-just-terrible-change-in-law-forces-family-to-wait-more-than-a-month-for-mothers-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/03\/18\/its-just-terrible-change-in-law-forces-family-to-wait-more-than-a-month-for-mothers-funeral\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s just terrible\u2019: Change in law forces family to wait more than a month for mother’s funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Delays in getting death certificate are creating extra anguish for grieving relatives, says bereaved son<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A MAN who had to wait 15 days to register his mother\u2019s death has described the new process as \u201ca nightmare\u201d that “compounded his grief”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Nesbitt\u2019s mother, Marjorie Skinner, died on January 5 at Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan Hospital from a brain tumour and influenza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under changes to the death certification process, introduced in England and Wales in September 2024, all deaths must be reviewed independently by a medical examiner or coroner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change was recommended after an inquiry into how mass murderer and GP Harold Shipman remained undetected for so long. But it has caused delays to death certificates being issued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just awful not knowing what is going on,\u201d said Mr Nesbitt, who had to make several phone calls to find out why it was taking so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 67-year-old said it was a very slow process, with \u201c15 days of nothing happening\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t move forward, you can\u2019t arrange the funeral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen somebody dies the last thing you want to do is to get angry,\u201d said the retired firefighter, who finally managed to speak to the medical examiner to get the paperwork signed off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mother\u2019s death was registered at Bleneau Gwent Register Office on January 20 allowing Mr Nesbitt to start planning the funeral which took place on February 7 – over a month after her death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t pushed it, it would have been another week or two weeks,” said the father of two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy on earth did it take so long to do and why did I have to shout at them to get them to do it? I couldn\u2019t go and see her in the chapel of rest because the undertaker advised me not to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Nesbitt last saw his mother a few days before Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ended up with bronchitis, so I couldn\u2019t go to the hospital, so I never saw her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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