Vital Statistics Commission of Jamaica - Planning Institute of Jamaica

Audit of Vital Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Jamaica
Recently an amendment to the Coroner’s Act was passed that addresses some problems in the
information collection process. Specifically addressed is the time interval in which the police
are required to report to the Coroner. The police must now provide notification of any
sudden or suspicious death to the Coroner within 48 hours of discovery and a report of their
investigation within 21 days of notification (or seek an extension). In addition, a medical
practicioner contracted to do the post mortem is given 48 hours to provide a report to the
Coroner. This should have the effect of increasing the timeliness of the reporting of the fact
of death and even perhaps the cause of death to the Coroner. However, the new act does not
address the timing of the filing of Form D by the Coroner with the RGD. The Coroner’s Act,
section 10, paragraph 1 gives the Coroner absolute discretion as to when Form D will be sent.
The Act (Sections 10 and 15) also states explicitly that Form D is to be sent by the coroner to
RGD, but apparently, the standard practice is for the coroner to give Form D to a family
member to take to the LDR ostensibly because Form D does not contain much of the
information needed for registration of the death. The problem is that Form D is often not
picked up by the family. It is often difficult to obtain cooperation from families for
registration information because there is no penalty for non-compliance and there is no need
to obtain a burial permit since registration is not required for a burial permit in these cases.
Only if there is an estate in question or a will to be probated is the family inclined to ensure
registration procedures are completed. To address this gap, RGD parish officers present
frequently to the coroner’s office to obtain all Form Ds not picked up by family members,
but there is no written policy, formal expectation, or established frequency for these visits.
Form D is manually logged at the coroner’s office in a paper logbook. There is no
reconciliation to registrations reported by the RGD and the coroner’s office does not keep
copies of Form D once they are sent to RGD. The coroners with whom we spoke claim that
approximately three to four Forms D are lost per month by (or in transit to) the RGD,
although there was no way for us to verify this claim. The current tracking and reporting
system provides aggregate volume numbers only, and does not include the circumstances
surrounding the causes, locations, etc. of deaths. If a juried inquest is held, the results are
reported using Form E, Coroner’s Certificate of Finding of Jury, which is routed by the
coroner to the RGD, but again, there is no tracking of delivery or reconciliation with RGD
records. Form E would have the final determination as to the manner of death.
There is some confusion as to whether RGD is allowed to make corrections to the
information provided on Forms D and E if this information is found to be in error. We were
told by one staff member at RGD that they could not make changes to the form and indeed,
the coroners we talked to indicated that sometimes RGD would send a family member back
to the coroner’s office with the form to effect changes. Another RGD staff member,
however, indicated that changes could be made to the form by RGD staff. The Coroner’s
Act, Section 28 states that the coroner can authorize the RGD to correct errors of fact,
although these must be made in the margins of the Form. It is unclear whether the Act
requires this authorization to be given in writing or whether such authorization could be
given verbally.
Statistical information on criminal acts, including violent deaths, is also gathered by the
statistics divisions of district police departments. On a daily basis statistics are FAXed to the
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