Suspended GP falsely ticked box to stop death certificates being reviewed

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By Daniel Pye

A GP has been suspended for 10 months after admitting she falsely filled in more than 30 death certificates to avoid them being reviewed.

Dr Lea Cramsie, who worked in Glasgow at a practice providing care to people living in nursing homes, said she did this to avoid generating extra work.

Between October 2024 and March 2025, Cramsie dishonestly ticked boxes to confirm the death had been reported to the procurator fiscal.

This action excluded the 31 deaths from being potentially randomly selected by the Scottish Death Certification Review Service (DCRS).

The DCRS reviews more than 6000 certificates each year, which is around 12% of annual registered deaths. The process checks quality and accuracy of the medical certificate of cause of death and speaks to the certifying doctor, with the most extensive reviews taking up to three working days.

The Scottish system is different to Wales and England, which use medical examiners instead.