By Grace Q. Bryant
The Chairperson of Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC), Dr. Benetta Andrews, has testified in open court to a conflicting death certificate of the late Charloe Musu, saying that the death Certificate is legitimate.
Dr. Andrews’s testimony followed a request made by Criminal Court ‘A’ Judge, Roosevelt Willie, citing officials of the Medical Council to appear in open court on Thursday, October 26, 2023, to clarify how a death certificate is given at the hospital.
According to Dr. Andrews, the practice surrounding the signing of death certificates varies from one jurisdiction to another, noting that under Liberia’s jurisdiction, it is only a medical doctor who can issue a death certificate.
The Chairperson of Medical & Dental, in her testimony, informed the open court that the current death certificate that is being used by Liberia has serious implications, stressing that the current death certificate has a systematic error.
She furthered said that signing a death certificate is not an emergency in any part of the world, noting that the death certificate cannot determine the final cause of death.
According to her, the death certificate can be used as data to inform medical research strategy, and it can also be used by the family to know the cause of death.
It was established by Dr. Benetta Andrews that the death certificate issued to the family of Charlie Musu is medically legitimate.
In another development, Judge Roosevelt Willie also ordered the clerk to subpoena the Physician Assistant and the Medical Doctor who attended to the late Charloe Musu before her death, and subsequently signed the death certificate of the late Charloe Musu, to testify in the ongoing trial proceedings.
These two subpoena witnesses are expected to appear in court on Monday, October 30, to testify in the ongoing murder trial involving former Chief Justice, Gloria Musu-Scott.
Judge Willie has also ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a French interpreter to interpret one of the witnesses, who is not fluent in the English language.
The medical doctor, who is expected to testify in open court on Monday, is said to be a foreign doctor and the managing doctor at the Redemption Hospital.
