Residents in Marshall County who are grieving the loss of a loved one cannot get a death certificate due to a new state records system in Indiana.
This is a reality for people across the state – including WTCA owner Kathy Bottorff whose father passed away on December 8th.
Funeral homes across Indiana are struggling to secure death certificates because of problems with the Indiana Department of Health’s new birth and death records system that launched this year.
The Indiana Funeral Directors Association said in a letter to those who have experienced a recent family death, “On January 1, 2021 the Indiana State Department of Health, ISDA, instrumented a new electronic birth/death record registration system. Unfortunately, this new system has many issues and challenges causing a delay in the availability of obtaining certified death certificates. This is not the fault of your funeral director as they have little control beyond providing constructive feedback to improve the problems sooner rather than later; THIS IS AN INDIANA STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PROGRAM.”
The State of Indiana says they have held training sessions for the new system but Indiana Funeral Director Association members who did the training are running into problems.
The Indiana Funeral Directors Association closed their letter to families saying, “We kindly ask for your patience as we, IFDA representing you and your funeral director’s interest, help ISDH find workable solutions to their software issues in an efficient manner. We are confident that ISDH is seeking timely resolutions and using our feedback to make progress with their program. Through this process, ISDH has been made acutely aware of your needs as a family and the potential hardships this delay can and will cause. Rest assured, your funeral director and IFDA are working continuously to ensure that any inconvenience caused by this ISDH system change will be minimal to the best of our abilities.”
