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Elderly parents
Original poster

Death certificate, coroners, and inquests

35 replies

SoapOperaFamily · 19/08/2025 22:16

DH’s dad died suddenly this week. He was taken into hospital for an unusual thing (not going to say what, as it is quite outing) that was dealt with quickly. We spoke to him next day where he was at home again. This gave us the impression that the ‘thing’ was not particularly serious. He died at home during the night, and it has subsequently become apparent that he had discharged himself from hospital against medical advice, and now there is probably going to be an inquiry. So far DH has not been able to get a death certificate. He’s quite distressed by this, as he would like to be able to get on with planning a funeral. He feels this is the job he should be doing right now. His siblings are all travelling to the UK, some live a very long way away. When my own father died, one of my siblings travelled a long way, and because it was Covid times was not able to stay until the funeral. This caused a lot of upset. DH is keen that a funeral be arranged soon so that his siblings do not need to return home and miss the funeral.

Does anyone have any experience of how long such an inquiry might take, and how long it might take to get a death certificate? The doctors are fairly certain he died of a heart attack, but how this is related to the thing he was taken into hospital for is not known. There is also some consternation in the hospital about how such an elderly immobile man managed to escape.

I would just like to be able to support DH, so if anyone has any knowledge of these situations, I would be very grateful. Thanks.

OP posts:
ThatNaiceMember · 19/08/2025 23:13

My dad died in June in similar circumstances (also discharged himself) and we do not have a full death certificate yet. An autopsy was inconclusive and the inquest has not yet been completed. We did get the interim death certificate fairly quickly though and have been able to do all paperwork, cremation etc with that.

So sorry for your loss. I hope you have lots of lovely memories of your eccentric dad 💖

Mustbethat · 19/08/2025 22:59

Been through this recently.

you should have a bereavement officer to talk you through it.

there will be a PM, after which you can get an interim death certificate and arrange the funeral. You can do some estate admin was well, but for probate etc you will need the full certificate.

i would speak to a funeral director as soon as you can. They know all the people and all the paperwork and hoops. Ours had most of the admin done before we even knew what was needed. Worth every penny.

i would also speak to your bereavement officer about your options. When my relative died in hospital in similar circumstances- diagnosed with something not serious, then surprised everyone including the medics by dying, they offered us a PM to establish cause of death, but also said if we were happy with the dr’s opinion that it was a heart attack we could accept that for the death certificate and avoid the PM and enquiry. As they’d been quite ill for a long time and we had no concerns about the hospital admission etc we went with that and got a full death certificate about a week later.

Original poster
SoapOperaFamily · 19/08/2025 22:51

Thank you everyone. He was definitely (in my opinion) of sound mind. Extremely eccentric, but I knew him for 36 years and he had bonkers ideas for all that time! But was not actually losing his mind, if that makes sense.

OP posts:
didgeridid · 19/08/2025 22:42

I'm so sorry for your loss.

My mum went in and turns out it was sepsis. We assumed that there wouldn't be a post mortem but they wanted one. She died 11th aug and it was a few weeks before we got the answer and certificate. We held the funeral on the next day available which was the 14 sept.

I hope it is quicker for you.

Lougle · 19/08/2025 22:39

CharlotteCChapel · 19/08/2025 22:31

Ive just been in hospital and o e patient discharged herself. The doctor told her that they can't stop her as its a hospital not a prison.

It depends on whether the patient is deemed to have capacity. It sounds like there are concerns about the way @SoapOperaFamily FIL discharged himself.

HappyintheHills · 19/08/2025 22:38

You won’t need the death certificate with full cause of death from the inquest for the funeral.
The death will be reported to coroner, who will issue a statement of the fact of death which can be used in place of the final death certificate for quite a lot of estate settling and the funeral.

Lougle · 19/08/2025 22:37

I'm so sorry, that sounds very distressing. The bereavement officer at the hospital should be on hand to answer questions. Once the PM is done, you will be issued with an interim or final death certificate. It's interim if test results are outstanding, and final if the post mortem gives enough information to confirm the cause of death.

Once you have the interim death certificate, the funeral can be arranged even if the inquest and final cause of death isn't confirmed.

CharlotteCChapel · 19/08/2025 22:31

Ive just been in hospital and o e patient discharged herself. The doctor told her that they can't stop her as its a hospital not a prison.

Cadenza12 · 19/08/2025 22:22

Getting the death certificate can take days even in relatively straightforward cases. You can go ahead with the funeral arrangements on the probability that one will be issued in time. Speak to a funeral director they will have a good idea of what the situation is in your area You do have to chase everyone.

SirBasil · 19/08/2025 22:18

I'm very sorry for your and your DH's loss. My dad died suddenly, and that always means a PM apparently. We managed to bury him 2 weeks later (pre covid, probably longer now?)

You have to wait for the investigation to run, i think. Sorry. It is possible that they investigate quickly, and release the body for a funeral, you'd probably have to check with the coroner about that.