Sudden deaths from heart attacks and similar events often create unexpected legal and bureaucratic problems for families. Relatives frequently struggle to obtain a death certificate because, given the abrupt nature of the death, they cannot secure a medical document stating the cause. Without that document, the civil registry will not issue a death certificate.

Bizimyol.info reports that in such cases, the deceased’s family must apply to the court to have the fact of death legally recognized. After hearing the applicant and any witnesses and reviewing relevant documents, the judge issues a ruling confirming the death. The applicant then submits this ruling to the registry office to obtain the death certificate for their relative.

Sevinc Mammadova, whose husband died suddenly from cardiac arrest, says the family immediately called Emergency Medical Services. However, by the time the doctor arrived, death had already occurred:

“It happened at night. The doctor came and told us verbally that he had died of a heart attack. But although the time was recorded on the document, the cause wasn’t. There was no crime, nothing suspicious. The police came, the doctors saw everything. We went to the polyclinic and presented the document from the ambulance, but they still didn’t give us what we needed from the registry office to obtain the death certificate. They said he hadn’t come in for checkups for years, he hadn’t complained, he was a young man — that’s why he hadn’t come. We had no choice but to get the certificate through the courts.”

Lawyer Tural Agayev says the number of citizens facing this problem is extremely high, for several reasons:

“First, deaths from sudden cardiac arrest and heart attacks have increased. If death is recorded before emergency services arrive, and the person had no prior complaints and hadn’t visited a doctor, in most cases they won’t issue a medical document. They justify it by saying there could be some suspicion of a crime; they’re protecting themselves. There was a case where a man took his daughter to a penitentiary to visit her husband. He waited outside in the car and died of a heart attack while waiting. There were cameras all over the area. Even so, the family couldn’t get the document and had to go to court.”

Agayev argues that unjustly putting citizens through such ordeals is wrong. Many people, he notes, cannot prioritize their health due to financial constraints and therefore miss timely examinations and treatment:

“Because of this, they remain unaware of existing conditions until it’s too late.”

Ayten, Bizimyol.info