M.E. Patients and the Researchers that Silence Them by Laura Elliott

If it was reasonably clear to the attending doctor that a chronic illness had been a major motivation for suicide I think many doctors would include it in the certificate as a contributing factor.

 

There’s a huge difference between contributory and official when applied to a death certificate. To say there isn’t is quite ignorant. I’m not repeating this anymore. Me and my family have said and said this and some people just will not understand. It’s actually harmful to those of us who have to go through the inquest process by making out there’s more when there isn’t. Incredibly harmful. We’ve also had families of those that people say are one of the deaths with official cause of death support what we have said and say it angers them to see their loved ones used in this way as it’s factually untrue (even in the cases where it should be official cause of death). I physically can’t state this anymore. My family have been to hell and back and put all this information out there to help the ME community. We didn’t have to. To see people continue to spread false beliefs about the official cause of deaths listed when it is, sadly and unfortunately, only Merryn and Sophia is quite honestly devastating as it doesn’t help anyone, least of all anybody in the future who has to go through the inquest process.

 

Interesting. That's helpful to know.

 

Doctors in general do not write the certificate. With ME it goes to inquest because of the nature of such cases and then it’s down to a coroner

 

Amy, I appreciate your candour but this was not in any way intended as an attack on you by me or anyone else in this thread, nor should it be construed that way. No one is accusing you of lying.

Additionally, I'm still struggling to understand what you mean by 'official' versus listed cause of death. What makes one thing 'official' and another not? Do you mean 'sole cause' or something else?

Again, this isn't an attack. I'm just genuinely asking a question.

 

Ok so official cause of death is the most important aspect on a death certificate. The causes of death are listed numerically. So, number 1 is the official cause of death, but number 1 can be 1a, 1b, 1c etc. So it would read 1a ..... is caused by 1b ..... which is caused by 1c. 1c is the OFFICIAL cause of death, the overriding factor of everything else. There can also be numbers 2, 3 etc and these can be contributory factors but nothing to do with official cause of death legally. So a person may have 1. Heart attack 2. (Something else) but the heart attack would be the ultimate overall cause of death. That is unfortunately, what doctors etc listen to when looking at if someone can die from something. In the U.K., only Merryn and Sophia have this.

I hope this is clear and clears up a few things. This is why for example, the deaths relating to suicide will never have ME as official cause of death because the suicide is what killed the person. Those figures should be used in their own right though, as they are devastating and reflect how little support pwME receive

 

Thank you. That is indeed very helpful and clarifies the point.

 

As you can imagine, getting a coroner to commit to putting ME is official cause of death is incredibly difficult. There are probably many listing it as contributory factor or additional factor but for them to place it as Official is incredibly rare, and unfortunately, it is this that will change opinions about the fact it really can be fatal in the most severe forms

 

Hi @Amy101

I don't know you at all but I expect I'm not alone in wishing your family care and healing from a wound that will no doubt never fully leave you. I am so sorry that this time continues to be stressful for you.
best wishes
SD

 

Thank you so much for your kind words Snowdrop ❤️ Sending gentle hugs

 

Same here.