Advise what to do After a Death

Deaths in hospital

Currently most deaths take place in a hospital or nursing home. If your friend or family member dies in hospital, staff will contact you, lay out the body

and arrange for it to be taken to the hospital mortuary. You will then be asked to arrange for the body to be collected by funeral directors, who will normally take it to their chapel of rest, this can happen very quickly and you will be expected to organise a funeral director quickly so be prepared, furthermore, you will be asked to collect the person's personal possessions.

Before a death can be formally registered, a doctor will need to issue a medical certificate giving the cause of death. In hospital, this is usually done by a hospital doctor, who will hand the certificate to you in a sealed envelope addressed to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. You will also be given a notice, explaining how to register the death. There is no charge for either of these. If the person has not been seen by a hospital doctor, their GP may be able to issue a certificate instead. The hospital may ask your permission to carry out a post-mortem exam to learn more about the cause of death. You do not have to agree to this.

In some cases, a doctor may not be able to issue a medical certificate of the cause of death. There may be a number of reasons for this. If the doctor isn't able to issue a medical certificate, they will refer the death to the coroner. The coroner may order a post mortem examination. You do not have the right to object to a post-mortem ordered by the coroner, but you should tell the coroner if you have religious or other strong objections. You can find more information about post-mortems on the Directgov website at: www.directgov.gov.uk.

Where cremation is to take place, a second doctor will be needed to sign a certificate that the body has been examined. There will be a charge for this.

Deaths at home

When someone dies at home, their GP should be called as soon as possible. The GP will normally visit the house and, if the death was expected, should be able to issue a certificate giving the cause of death. If the person did not have a GP or you do not know the name of the GP, an ambulance should be called instead. If an ambulance is called, they will not take the deceased with them to the hospital, it is upto you to arrange a funeral director to come and collect the deceased. Most funeral directors are on call 24hr a day and generally if a local funeral director try to be with you within 1hr of the call If they are unsure about the cause of death a doctor is not allowed to issue a certificate. When this happens the death must be reported to a coroner and the body will be taken to a hospital mortuary, where a post mortem may need to take place.

Deaths abroad

If a death takes place abroad it must be registered according to the law of that country. The death should also be reported to the British Consul who may be able to arrange for the death to be registered in the UK as well.

Returning a body to the UK is expensive but the cost may be covered by any travel insurance taken out by the person. If the death was on a package holiday the tour operator should be able to help with arrangements.

When a body is returned to the UK, the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the district where the funeral is to take place must be told and will need to issue a certificate before burial can take place. If cremation is to take place the Home Office also needs to give permission. If the death was not due to natural causes the coroner for the district will also need to be told and an inquest may need to take place. In Northern Ireland a coroner can also arrange a post mortem or an inquest if the family requests it.