NEWPORT BEACH : Death Certificate Charges Rejected

The Orange County district attorney’s office will not file charges against a Newport Beach doctor who failed to sign a death certificate for an elderly patient, delaying her burial by one day.

A complaint against Dr. Michael J. Schlutz was filed in August after the death of Dorothy Armstrong, 80. Her family claimed that Schlutz, a cancer specialist and her physician before her death, went on vacation without completing her death certificate. The certificate is required before a body can be buried.

In these cases, the attending physician has the legal responsibility to verify a death certificate. If a physician is unavailable, then an associate can sign the form, which is a formality typically handled by the funeral parlor. A state statute requires that the notice be signed by a physician within 15 hours of death.

In Armstrong’s case, the family was notified shortly before the funeral that burial could not take place because a certificate had not been signed. Since Schlutz was on vacation, another doctor could have signed the notice verifying Armstrong’s death, but both eligible doctors were unavailable.

At the time, family members had to postpone burial ceremonies until the body could be officially released to the mortuary. Later that week, Richard Taylor, Armstrong’s son-in-law, complained about Schlutz to the Newport Beach Police Department.

A spokesman for the department said Tuesday that an investigation had been completed by their officers and the reports turned over to the district attorney’s office, but that no charges would be filed.

Taylor said he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.

“From the very beginning we were not terribly optimistic,” Taylor said. “We put the red hat on and tried to lead the parade . . . but the (district attorney’s office) doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal.”

Schlutz said he believed that the matter had been thoroughly reviewed.

“I understand that the matter has been exhaustively investigated by the authorities and they uniformly agree that there is no rational basis for pursuing the matter,” Schlutz said.