When Should a Death Be Reported to a Coroner?

Having to organise a funeral while you’re grieving can be stressful. Once you’ve done the things you need to do in the first five days, you’ll usually be able to plan the funeral that’s right for you and the person who’s died.

If the person died suddenly and it was unexpected, the doctor who has been asked to certify the death may involve a coroner.

What is a coroner and what do they do?

The coroner decides if an investigation is needed when someone dies. It happens when a doctor is asked to certify a death and the doctor decides that the coroner needs to look at the cause of someone’s death, or the way a person has died. If this happens, the doctor won’t issue the death certificate, and this means our ability to arrange a funeral for you will be delayed until the coroner’s investigation ends.

These are the reasons a doctor may ask the coroner to get involved:

• The cause of death isn’t known.

• The death was unnatural or violent.

• The death was sudden or unexplained.

• The person who died was not visited by a GP during their final illness.

• A medical certificate isn’t available.

• The person who died was not visited by a GP within 14 days of signing a medical certificate.

• The person died during an operation or before they came out of anaesthetic.

• The medical certificate suggests the death may have been caused by industrial disease or poisoning.

The coroner may decide the cause of death is clear, and if this happens:

• The doctor will sign a medical certificate.

• You’ll need to take the medical certificate to the registrar.

• The coroner will give a medical certificate to the registrar confirming a post-mortem isn’t needed.

Postmortem

The coroner may decide that a postmortem examination is needed to find out how the person died. This can be done in a hospital or a mortuary. You can’t object to a post-mortem, but you can ask the coroner to tell you and your person’s GP when and where the post-mortem will take place.

After the postmortem

The coroner releases the person who’s died once all planned examinations have ended. If the coroner decides that an inquest isn’t needed, they’ll send the pink form 100B to the registrar, telling them the cause of death. The coroner will also send the Certificate of Coroner form cremation 6 if the person who’s died is to be cremated.

If an inquest needs to be held

The coroner will want to hold an inquest if the cause of death is still unknown or if the person died a violent death or an unnatural death, or if they died in prison or in police custody.

You can’t register a death until after an inquest is over, but you can request an interim death certificate to prove the person has died, so you can apply for probate or let organisations know with the ‘tell us once’ service. The coroner tells the registrar what to include in the register once the inquest has ended.

What this means for you and for us

We’ll help you understand what the involvement of a coroner, a postmortem or an inquest means for you and how we can support you with your funeral arrangements. We’ll always let you know what you can expect from us if a coroner delays the funeral arrangements and we’re always here to help and guide.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand the content of the coroner’s report, as it’s not written to make sense to a member of the public, as it contains technical, medical information and full details of the investigation. Once the investigation is complete, it will allow you to take the next steps with us to organise the perfect send-off and celebration of life.