S.C. coroners explain process of removing COVID-19 from incorrect death certificates

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - WIS has investigated cases of incorrect death certificates that list COVID-19 during the pandemic.

Now, we’re getting a better idea from two coroners of just how often this is happening and the steps they’re taking to make sure death counts in their counties are accurate.

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts says of his county’s 263 COVD-19 deaths, he’s removed the virus from three death certificates.

“If I have a death certificate, and someone says it’s COVID, and they weren’t tested, I have changed that,” Watts explained.

Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher says of her county’s 173 COVID-19 deaths, she’s changed five.

“We reached out to DHEC and said we have these death certificates, and family is saying they need to be changed,” Fisher noted. “I asked do we have the right to do that, and she said yes, of course.”

Coroner Fisher says she’s found COVID-19 sometimes incorrectly appears on a death certificate because the doctor wasn’t personally involved in writing it. She says they sometimes have a staff member who writes them. She also believes medical certifiers occasionally miss things.

“It’s a constant check and balance with us,” said Fisher. “Every death certificate that comes across us, we are responsible for it, and we like to have our numbers accurate.”

Striking COVID-19 from a death certificate isn’t as easy it sounds, and it requires an extensive investigation.

“We have to get all the medical records, talk to the physicians, talk to the facility, talk to DHEC before we make any changes because we don’t want to undermine another doctor,” said Fisher. “He may know something we didn’t know or the family didn’t know.”

Just because someone tests positive for the virus at one time also does not mean these coroners believe COVID-19 should appear on their death certificate.

“If you go out here and get in a car crash, or you get stabbed or whatever else, just because you have COVID doesn’t mean that’s what killed you,” explained Watts. “You have to be careful about what information you put down and make sure it is the cause of death because a lot of people have gotten the virus, and most of them, thank the good Lord, have not died.”

Neither coroner will accept a “probable” cause of death. They say they will investigate and try to find a positive COVID-19 test or something that would convince them the virus was the cause of death. If they can’t, they say they will not list COVID-19 on a death certificate.

Getting a death certificate right is important to both coroners, not just because that’s what they are elected to do, but also because causes of death affect research funding. For example, the total number of deaths from diabetes or lung cancer helps determine how much money in Washington is allocated to research for a cure.

Once a coroner changes a death certificate, they submit an amendment to DHEC. They say the agency’s Vital Records Office takes note of the change, and then that death is removed from the total COVID-19 death count.