Complainant Brian Simmons owner of Springfield Mortuary Service in Springfield, Mo. was called to attend to the death of Enid Liss on September 17, 2014.

In his written complaint Simmons states “we sent a certificate to Dr. Caster on September 22, 2014.”

Investigator McDowell and I interviewed Simmons and he stated that he personally took the death certificate to Dr. Caster’s office on September 22, 2014. His daughter, Jennifer Simmons, also made the same statement.

After waiting more than a month they again called Dr. Caster’s office several times inquiring as to the status of Dr. Caster signing the certificate. He states he again took a certificate to Dr. Caster’s office and this time it was signed. He immediately took it to the health …show more content…
Caster’s written reply to the Board, received January 28, 2015, he blamed the State’s computer system for the delay. Stating it malfunctions and is inefficient. The complete reply is in the case file.
I contacted DHSS death certificate division and spoke with Nellie Churchill a field rep phone 417-522-1712 on 3/26/2015.

She states the electronic filing of death certificates (named MOEVR) did work during the time frame in the complaint however it was updated in October 2014.

The system works in this manner. The funeral service completes their portion of the death certificate on line and then via the electronic filing system the certificate is sent to the physician to complete their part and then they send it on to be electronically filed. I asked how a physician was alerted that a certificate was waiting for their signature and she stated that the physician had to check his notification on the MOEVR sight. There was not system whereby the doctor was notified he had to check the computer.

I interviewed Dr. Caster on May 18, 2015 at his …show more content…
Caster was cordial and somewhat apologetic for the terse reply he had sent to the Board.

Dr. Caster stated he did not ever receive an electronic notice for him to sign the death certificate. It wasn’t until a month after the patient had died that it was brought to his attention that he needed to sign the death certificate which he states he signed that same day.

Dr. Caster said during that time he had a “troublesome office manager” and that could be the reason why he wasn’t notified in a timely manner to sign the death certificate. He would not elaborate on the “problems” with the office manager. There has been a frequent turnover in office staffing in his office.

He doesn’t check the computer every day to see if he has a certificate to sign. He usually has only 3 or 4 certificates a month to complete.

Dr. Caster related his aggravation with the electronic filing system in that he often wasn’t sure the system took the information after he pressed the submit button as there was no conformation. The password changes every 90 days or so. He doesn’t have that many patients that die so he uses the system on very infrequent bases.

Dr. Caster stated that the liked the deceased and he would never intentionally delay in signing her death