A Missouri coroner reportedly omitted COVID-19 as a cause of death from multiple death certificates after family members requested the virus be struck from documentation.
Brian Hayes, Macon County’s coroner, claimed he altered at least six coronavirus death records where another medical complication was present, such as pneumonia, at the request of grieving family members, he told the Kansas City Star. The practice has left Macon with 19 deaths from the disease, though the total should likely be over 30, the outlet reported.
“A lot of families were upset. They didn’t want COVID on the death certificates,” Hayes said. “I won’t lie for them, it’s gotta be true, but I do what pleases the family.”
LINK BETWEEN CASES AND DEATHS GREATLY WEAKENED IN DELTA SURGE
Mike Chambers, the administrator of the Macon County Health Department, disagreed with Hayes’s method, though he did claim flu-like diseases may be confused easily if a positive test is not conducted.
“There are viruses out there that are so similar to COVID, like the flu, and unless you do a test to confirm, you just don’t know,” he said. “If you can link it to a known case, maybe, but we’ve had people that were exposed, but their tests turned up negative.”
When asked about the development, the Missouri Department of Health railed against “misinformation” pertaining to the pandemic.
“There has been substantial misinformation aimed at both understating and overstating the impacts of COVID nationally,” a spokesperson said. “As such, Missouri has chosen to remain consistent in our determination process, verify it against a national standards process by CDC’s [National Center for Health Statistics], and report consistently.”
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Missouri is one of a few states that does not count probable COVID-19 cases in its tally without a PCR test. Additionally, pairing death certificates with a positive test could take up to five months, leading to possible discrepancies between local and state health authorities.
Over the last two weeks, the United States has seen a 139% jump in cases, largely due to the highly contagious delta variant, while hospitalizations have risen 79%, and deaths increased by 49%. A total of 50% of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated, and 70% of U.S. adults have received at least one dose.
