HowTo: Email a Death Certificate To A Doctor
The process: Send the doctor the death certificate, he signs it at his leisure, the office calls you when it’s complete, send someone to pick it up.
Now take this with a grain of salt because I’ve had mixed luck in dealing with doctor’s offices accepting an email but if they’ll accept it, it can save you a lot of waiting time. Some institutions routinely do it, such as Hospice of the Western Reserve.
Step One – Install PDF writer software. http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp (free application)
What is that? First a PDF (portable document format) is a file that will print the same on any computer, as long as that computer has PDF reading software installed such as Adobe Acrobat Reader (most have it installed already.) PDF writer software creates a “printer” on your machine and when you “print,” it then creates a file instead of sending it to a physical printer. Then you can do whatever you like with that PDF file: print it to a physical printer, save it in a folder, email it to someone, etc.
Step Two -Log into EDRS, On the toolbar, click on Tools, then Preferences. Highlight “Death Certificate,” then under the printer dropdown, select the “PDF Writer” Printer. Repeat the highlighting step for “Burial Permit” and “Burial Permit-No Cremation.” You will only need to do this once.
Step Three – Print a death certificate (or burial permit), a “Save As” dialogue box will pop up, name the document and select the location like you would normally save a document.
Step Four – Create an email and address to the specified recipient, “attach” the document you created to the email.
Step Five – When sending someone to pick up the death certificate, always take a paper copy as a backup. I’ve had certificates that have printed out improperly on the doctor’s printer or they used colored paper or a variety of other issues.
Note: This process can be used for creating a variety of PDF files, not just within EDRS.
If anyone would like further instruction or consultation, I can be contacted at jim@neofd.com.
