[mysql] Warning: #1265 Data truncated for column 'pdd' at row 1

I am having trouble trying to set the PDD(patient death date) to null on PHPMYADMIN until such death date comes; also on the client end then I can check for NULL data to use it.

Could anyone suggest me a solution, please ?

patientnhs_no   hospital_no sex     name    surname     dob     address     pls  pdd    
1001001001      6000001      m     john     smith   1941-01-01  Bournmouth  1    0000-00-00

(PDD should be null if is alive or death date if died)

You are most likely pushing a string 'NULL' to the table, rather then an actual NULL, but other things may be going on as well, an illustration:

mysql> CREATE TABLE date_test (pdd DATE NOT NULL);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.11 sec)

mysql> INSERT INTO date_test VALUES (NULL);
ERROR 1048 (23000): Column 'pdd' cannot be null
mysql> INSERT INTO date_test VALUES ('NULL');
Query OK, 1 row affected, 1 warning (0.05 sec)

mysql> show warnings;
+---------+------+------------------------------------------+
| Level   | Code | Message                                  |
+---------+------+------------------------------------------+
| Warning | 1265 | Data truncated for column 'pdd' at row 1 |
+---------+------+------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> SELECT * FROM date_test;
+------------+
| pdd        |
+------------+
| 0000-00-00 |
+------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> ALTER TABLE date_test MODIFY COLUMN pdd DATE NULL;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.15 sec)
Records: 1  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> INSERT INTO date_test VALUES (NULL);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec)

mysql> SELECT * FROM date_test;
+------------+
| pdd        |
+------------+
| 0000-00-00 |
| NULL       |
+------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)