Florida Dept. of Health responds to cyberattack, death certificate delays

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Florida Department of Health is responding to a cyberattack that has slowed the distribution of death certificates. However, issues still linger.

The healthcare industry is a bullseye for hackers who engage in cyber-criminal activity.

Cybersecurity experts say the healthcare industry has been vulnerable to hackers since the pandemic when hospitals and healthcare delivery organizations were spread thin.

It’s unclear if any private information was stolen from the state health department.

Fonda Emard is still desperate for answers about the lengthy delay in getting a death certificate since her mother passed in June.

Moving forward has been nearly impossible because she’s unable to obtain the death certificate.

“There are several accounts that I have to continue to pay because I can’t close them without having a death certificate,” said Emard.

It’s a problem grieving families are facing across the state after a reported outage at the Florida Health Department shut down the online registration system.

“We need to sell the house,” said Emard.  “We can’t sell the house without that death certificate.  It’s been about two and a half weeks now.”

The Florida Department of Health is responding to mounting questions and confusion that sent funeral homes scrambling when the online registration system went down.

“We are working around the clock to restore the online Vital Statistics system,” said State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo in a statement. “The majority of Department operations and services remain operational and unchanged.”

However, the issue has been a source of several legal dilemmas.

“It delays the process,” said Camareno.  “You can’t necessarily cremate a person. You can’t bury them. You can’t distribute the funds that are within that estate to the people who are entitled to that.”

Bryant Camareno is an attorney based in Tampa.  He says families have limited options to put their loved ones to rest without a death certificate.

“The next step is to call law enforcement,” said Camareno.  “Call the attorney general’s office, but other than that it’s beyond your control to get any sort of relief.”

The Florida Department of Health issued the following statement:

The Florida Department of Health (Department) is working diligently to resolve the temporary outage impacting the online Vital Statistics system. To facilitate continued operations of death certificates, the Department has worked closely with funeral homes and health care facilities to implement offline procedures during this period. These instructions have been provided to all licensed funeral directors statewide. In addition, all county health departments have been provided the necessary resources to issue death certificates offline during this time.

We also request the support from health care facilities and physicians to expedite hand-signed death certificates. This collaboration across all partners will assist families in navigating difficult times with minimal disruption.

“We are working around the clock to restore the online Vital Statistics system,” said State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. “The majority of Department operations and services remain operational and unchanged.”

County health departments remain able to issue copies of birth certificates for individuals born before June 28, 2024. For births on or after this date, the Department is working with hospitals to continue manual processing of birth certificates. For families seeking assistance, all county health departments are prepared to provide guidance and support. Locate your local county health department at: FloridaHealth.gov . For questions and concerns regarding Vital Statistics services, please call 1-866-295-5902.

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