COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – Losing a loved one is already a nightmare. For some South Carolina families, this grieving process was prolonged, as they had to wait weeks for a burial.
This is due to a delay in the death certificate, caused by the new filing system for death certificates from the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
DHEC switched to Genesis Systems on January 11, because the former used Adobe Flash, which was due to expire on January 12. Since then, the system has failed, leaving some families in limbo.
“There are so many things to do that need to be done and we can’t go on with anything,” explained Cheryl Jackson, a West Columbia resident who lost her nearly 30-year-old husband on December 21.
On December 29, Jackson and her daughter applied for her husband’s death certificate, but two weeks passed and she hadn’t heard anything. She contacted her husband’s doctor and the Lexington County Coroner’s Office, and she said they both told her that the certificate had been sent to DHEC. After spending hours on the phone, she traveled to DHEC’s Columbia office on Tuesday and waited there for hours. She was still not lucky.
“My system has failed and my heart is with these people who are trying to bury their loved ones,” explained Jackson. “This is horrible.”
Jackson is not the only South Carolina facing this problem. Some who have chosen to cremate their loved ones need a death certificate to do so.
“With delays in being able to cremate the dead, funeral homes have reached capacity in some cases,” noted Candace Berry, deputy head of Lexington County.
Berry says that when DHEC launched its new system, death certificates started on the old one had to be transferred and some unique PIN numbers given to coroners, doctors and funeral directors were not working and had to be redefined.
“It’s really just waiting for DHEC on the flaws, and they really did a phenomenal job, but it is going to take some time to resolve all these initial bugs,” said Berry.
This change of system is a process that Berry and the South Carolina Funeral Association say normally takes a year, and they add that DHEC was only three months old.
But some people say that DHEC should have switched to a new system years ago, as they argue that this change from Adobe Flash was expected. COVID-19 only further complicated the issue, as doctors and funeral directors are facing more deaths than normal, according to the Funeral Home Association.
DHEC says it has fixed problems with PIN numbers and has dedicated a phone line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for support.
For PIN and login issues, call 803-898-0420. For other issues related to death certificates, you can call 803-898-3409.
Our Columbia-based sister station, WIS News 10, contacted DHEC on Wednesday to get an update on the death certificate delay. They still haven’t had an answer.
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