Home > Prevention & Risk Assessment > Genetics > Prostate Cancer Genetics Project > Spring, 2004 Newsletter

Death Certificates are Valuable to Us

Since the beginning of our project, we have relied on family members to assist us in obtaining photocopies of death certificates for family members who have died from cancer or as a consequence of cancer. Death certificates provide valuable documentation that a deceased relative had a particular type of cancer. When our project asks for your assistance in obtaining medical records, we may also need a death certificate to accompany our medical record request since that is a verification required by many medical records departments.

Unfortunately, due to concerns about privacy and identity theft, many states are now restricting release of death certificates to next-of- kin only. We are now asking our participants to voluntarily provide death certificates when family members pass away as a consequence of cancer.

If you can provide a death certificate for a family member who died from cancer, please call us at (800) 723-9170. We can check to see if we already have the death certificate in our files. If we do not have a copy, we would appreciate your sending a photocopy to us.

How to Obtain a Death Certificate

1. Obtain Information: Full name, social security number, date of death, place of death, and date of birth. All of the information is not necessary but is helpful.

2. Contact the County Clerk's Office:

   • Vital Statistics Department
   • To obtain a copy of a death certificate (uncertified is fine)
   • Please let them know that it is necessary to have the cause of death
3. You may also contact the State's Clerk Office with the same information
4. Make Request: Can be in person, by mail, by fax, or online
5. There may be an application to fill out
6. If in person, all you need is identification and the information from step 1.

Once you receive the certificate, please send the orginal or a photocopy to us at:

PCGP, University of Michigan Health Systems
7310 CCGC
1500 E. Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0946

Websites to help you locate the Clerk's Office:

• VitalChek Network, Inc.
• National Center for Health Statistics

We really appreciate all of your assistance and support of the Prostate Cancer Genetics Project. We would be happy to reimburse you for any costs you may incur on our behalf. If you need to be reimbursed please include your social security number and receipt with the certificate.

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See Also:

• Make a Donation to the Prostate Cancer
  Genetics Project
• Urologic Cancers
• UMCCC Clinical Trials

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University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
1500 East Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

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