If a woman dies in Florida and her death certificate isn’t signed for over a month, is she really dead?
WFLA reports the family of 76-year-old Phyllis Williams Izzo is unable to bury her or take care of her affairs — a month after her death.
Her niece Tamela McClish explained, “There’s all kinds of things we need a death certificate for. We can’t even turn in her leased vehicle without a death certificate.”
So why hasn’t Izzo been buried yet? Her doctor, Charles Eagar, refuses to sign the certificate. He claims he was never furnished an official cause of death so he’s not comfortable signing the legal paper.
“The doctor needs the cause of the death and if I don’t have the cause of the death for any patient, I can’t write the certificate,” he said.
He is demanding law enforcement officials send him notice that Izzo’s death wasn’t caused by foul play or deemed suspicious. Eagar also says he never saw Izzo’s body to make the determinations himself.
In his mind, if he signs the paper, he could be held legally responsible if her cause of death is wrong. For the record, the state’s medical examiner’s office said it appeared Izzo did not die of suicide or murder, so they ruled the old woman died of natural causes.
Eagar is already running afoul of the law because he was supposed to sign the death certificate 72 hours after Izzo died. The state will send him a formal letter demanding his John Hancock so the family can bury their loved one.
If he continues to be a stiff, Eagar faces enforcement action against his medical license.