Sir, – My mother, Marjorie, who lived with my father, Ivor, in Mullingar, died of pneumonia in Tullamore Hospital on February 5th, 2012. A post mortem was carried out, the results of which were available to her doctor within a couple of days. Nine months later my father, who is 87, has still not received the death certificate and is, therefore, unable to deal with financial issues arising from my mother’s death.
I understand that the process should be this: the pathologist at Tullamore issues a post-mortem report which is passed to the coroner; the coroner holds an inquest and the Death Certificate is issued. My father has made great efforts to expedite this process. His local TD, Robert Troy, has even asked questions in the Dáil. How can this simple process be taking so long? How can this cruel and unnecessary delay be justified? – Yours, etc,