The aim of this study was to investigate experiences and perceptions of private ยท
medical practitioners about the implementation of the current death notification form
(Bl-1663) in cases of confirmed Aids-related deaths. The study focussed on reporting
patterns by private medical practitioners of the deceased's underlying causes of death
in BI-1663. The study also focussed on the reasons advanced for the reporting
patterns described above.
The research method employed in this study was cross-sectional surveys. Self-administered questionnaires were used to gather the data and the target population
was all private medical practitioners practising within the Mafikeng / Mmabatho area
of the North West Province of South Africa. A response rate of eighty-two and half
per cent (82,50%) was achieved. The data were presented in the form of frequency
tables and pie charts and descriptive statistics was used to analyse it.
The findings of this study revealed that the majority of private medical practitioners
either omitted information that HIV / AIDS was an underlying cause of death or
reported another condition in BI-1663 during notification of confirmed AIDS related
deaths. Reasons advanced for the phenomenon were fears of unauthorised breach of
the deceased's confidential information by unintended parties that often led to
invalidation of the deceased's insurance and funeral benefits, as well as stigmatisation
and social discrimination of relatives the deceased.
The study recommends that third parties (informants) should be relieved of the duties
of conveying the deceased's confidential medical information to the state during death
notification processes. Medical practitioners themselves should submit Part 2 of BI-
1663 that contains the deceased's confidential information directly to Public Health
Officials. The study also recommends that the Department of Health should provide
formal training to the medical practitioners with respect to death certification in order
to enable them to certify causes of deaths in a manner that is useful for
epidemiological analysis and public policy. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/11224 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Molosi, Letlhogonolo Daniel |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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