Death certificate, coroners, and inquests

[SoapOperaFamily]

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.

Sorry for you and dhs going through this, its a difficult and stressful time.

My dh died at home very unexpected so the police were ( briefly) involved.

The inquest took about 6/7 weeks .
I think iv got a interim death certificate within about 3 weeks ( it felt like a life time waiting for it )
I would get your DH to focus on the admin side of things for now .
Depending on the bank your dfi used but most are very good at helping you go through things that need / can be cancelled or delayed.
My dh ( and me ) used the RBS and they were fantastic

Unless dhs family have plenty of time / money I wouldn't ask them to travel yet there could be a long wait .
There are a lot of other stressful things going on in your life which won't help.
Can you speak to your DD and explain you font need to know the ins and outs of her life just to talk to you about her uni plans.
Can you get your exam deferred for a month or so.

I will post a few links in a minute that may help.

Your dh may find this info useful.

Loads of information here.
https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death

This is ( I think ) only available for your DHs mum but you don't mention her so I'm not sure if she is still in the picture. If not it may be worth looking into to see if your dh can claim it.
https://www.gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment

This service is not available in all areas ( awkward bloody councils ) but is very good if your dh can make use of it
https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

Get your DH to get plenty of copies of both the interim and full death certificate from the outset it's much easier ( and cheaper ) than trying to get them later . I think I got 10 of each .
Several years after my DH had died I need one to prove it wasn't him involved in a pub fight over 100 miles from where we live 🤨.

You shoukd be able to get an interim death certificate. You will not be able to arrange a funeral until tge body is released and this could be sometime (weeks) if an autopsy is required.

Thanks all. a lot to think over. DH's sister has cancelled her holiday and all his siblings are arriving in the next day or two. I'm worried he will be completely stressing himself out about getting things organised asap. But the timescales you are all mentioning are more in line with what I was expecting. I think they will be disappointing for him though.

Work exams can be moved (and will be, if necessary. But obviously I can't do that until I know when I can move them to.)

Sorry for your loss. My experience of losing a parent in hospital but unexplained was that the post-mortem took a couple of weeks. Once the coroner had the PM report they told us we could book the funeral, pending issuing the death certificate. The funeral director was experienced enough to leave a bit of time in case anything changed and we only told people the date and time about a week in advance. In all from death to funeral was just under 1 month. We are still dealing with the hospital complaint process and potential inquest almost 2 years later.

ETA it won’t speed anything up but if your DH/siblings are executors he/they will be able to deal with all the admin stuff. There’s a lot of it and it can help some people to feel active in those first few weeks.

There is nothing anyone can do to speed up the Coroner. But, as pp said, there will be other things to deal with and just spending time together will be a comfort.

I’m so sorry. The coroner’s office is the one to ring. I got an interim certificate very quickly after dh’s sudden death. Get several copies.

There was a very long wait until the funeral but I’ll be honest - I actually could have got it done a couple of weeks earlier but I was not ready to bury my husband so I picked a later date. I think it could have been done in 3 weeks.

Over a third of deaths afe referred to thr coroner, most dont require a PM. As the cause of desth of your father is known, i dont see why there would need to be one.

One possibility is to have a memorial event now, while the relatives are here, and a small (perhaps streamed on the internet?) funeral later on, when that becomes possible.

I'm so sorry for your loss OP.

If you feel up to it, what's the problem with the hospital (I think you used the term "escape")?