When someone passes away in Luxembourg, it is not always easy to find a doctor who is available to officially confirm the death and issue a death certificate on-site. But why is this the case, and what can be done to resolve it?
RTL spoke to Dr Thorsten Schwark, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the National Health Laboratory (LNS), to understand the issue.
According to Dr Schwark, one of the main reasons is that many doctors simply lack experience in dealing with death certification. With around 4,000 to 4,500 deaths occurring each year in Luxembourg, individual doctors may encounter such cases only rarely, leaving them unsure or hesitant about what to do, he states.
Dr Schwark highlights that another important factor is that for doctors running a busy practice, responding to a death call is often seen as a disruption to their regular work. He states that they earn their income from treating living patients, who still require care and are often waiting in the surgery. Moreover, there is currently no legal obligation for doctors in Luxembourg to respond to such calls, which makes the task even less appealing, Dr Schwark notes.
As a result, families are sometimes left in distress, having to contact numerous doctors before finding one willing to attend. Even the police, when called to a death scene, are affected by this lack of immediate medical response, according to Dr Schwark.
One possible solution, he suggests, would be to establish a professionalised service specifically responsible for carrying out death examinations. This, he says, would ensure that the doctors involved have received the appropriate training and have the necessary experience. He also pointed out that such a service could operate under a legal framework requiring the examining doctor to contact the deceased person’s regular doctor for relevant medical information, which would help improve both the quality and timeliness of the process.
Dr Schwark believes this approach would ensure that death certifications are handled competently and without undue delay. He added that in some regions of Germany, it is already a legal requirement for a doctor to carry out the examination, which could serve as a model for Luxembourg.
He confirmed that both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice are aware of the issue and that discussions are already under way to address it, remaining optimistic that concrete solutions will be introduced in the future.
