Medical Examiner

[Annonmum1974]

My lovely dad passed away last Thursday morning at home following a sudden cancer diagnosis - his GP surgery called me Thursday evening to explain I would hear from a medical examiner to produce his death certificate - I know I’m probably being impatient but very stuck on moving things forward without this and wonder if anyone has any experience on realistically how long this should take - I have called the examiner department but no response - thank you x

My sympathies for your loss.

I think it's going to depend on how far the cancer diagnosis had got and if it was clear that it was the cancer that was the cause of death.

My 90 year old father dropped dead very suddenly, and though he was taking tablets for a number of different conditions because he hadn't seen his doctor in the last few weeks, his case had to be referred to the coroner. The coroner first got in touch with dad's GP to see if they would be comfortable giving an obvious cause of death ,and when they responded negatively the coroner had to authorise a post mortem - I think this took place about a week after the death and following it the coroner could issue a death certificate that allowed me to register the death.

The coroners officer were very good in keeping in touch with the family to let us know what was happening.

As the poster above correctly says it depends on whether or not the cause of death is clear.

Cancer itself may not cause the death - it can be something else such as pneumonia after lung cancer or pulmonary embolism or aspiration peneumonia with bowel obstruction and bowel cancer . With a sudden death at home there may be a post mortem although more and more GPs are being pushed to just put down a ‘guess’ .
If straightforward things can be a few working days but 2 weeks is not uncommon either.

My own dad passed away on 13/11. We didn’t hear from the medical examiner until 21/11.
Whereas when my mother in law died in September we heard from the examiner the following day.

If he died at home, usually they need some sort of input from the last doctor who saw him alive.
It can often be more delayed when someone does at home rather than in hospital.
I hope you’re not kept waiting too long. It does make it more difficult when you’re kept waiting.

Sorry for your loss OP.

MIL died on the 29th August this year, and we heard from the medical examiner on 5th September. She was under the local hospice and had been seen several times in the preceding days.

You’re probably best to reckon on it taking a fortnight.

I agree. A week or more is totally normal now. And unacceptable imo. The ME is apost Shipman change. Overkill ime ( no pun intended)

Yes agree, Shipman responsible for a lot of this, but a lot of those doctors were co- signing death certificates too easily, Somewhere in the middle would make sense

There are big delays in many areas due to a procedural change to do with Shipman as PP have mentioned. I had to wait over 2 weeks earlier this year when my DM died in very straightforward circumstances. I ended up complaining to my MP to try and get it raised in parliament. More medical examiners are needed for what was a completely predictable situation. It’s been in the news a few times but no sign of the extra funding it needs. I hope you don’t have to wait too long. It really doesn’t help with the grieving process.

You can still get quotes from undertakers and do other stuff. To register the death it's useful to bring along passport, driving licence, bills/statements (1) so you can dig those out.
You can also dig out the will, if he had one, ring up banks etc and ask what to do once the death is registered... Get quotes from venues if you want a wake...

I'm sorry for your loss. I found it helpful to be doing the post death work - it felt like the one last thing I could do for my Mum.

(1) Because when registering the death, they can put up to 3 names the deceased was known by - at this point it's handy to see if his bank account is in a slightly different version of his name than his passport - you'll be using the death certificate to close down accounts etc so you want the names to match.

Sorry for your loss OP.

My brother passed away earlier this year and we had to wait 2 weeks for the death certificate even though it was an expected death. As PP have said, there is a lack of ME’s which is causing the delays. I hope you don’t have to wait for much longer.

DM died on the Thursday, heard from the ME the following Wednesday. You can’t get an appointment with the Registrar until you’ve had that call, and I was worried I’d be outside the 5 day limit within which you are supposed to register a death. I had to take an appointment the following Monday in a far flung office to register the death as my nearest office had nothing for days; so 10 days from death to registration. No one cares about the 5 day thing apparently.

My DM died in a care home and I felt reassured that they wanted to do the checks and balances to be fair.

You can’t do probate or official bank notifications without the death certificate, so you just have to wait.

I'm sorry for your loss. I lost my father to cancer two years ago and it was about 10 days. However he was terminal for a while before he died and in a hospice for the finial days, so the basically had all the paperwork about his terminal illness and impending death done. If it was not expected your father would die yet, it might be a different situation.

I'm sorry about your Dad, OP. It must be a shock.

In my case, it took a few weeks for the coroner to confirm cause of death and provide a death certificate. I don't know if they all follow the same process, but I was given a contact number for the coroner, if I wanted to 'chase', but I didn't have a need. The coroner's secretary called me to tell me it would be a couple of weeks and what to expect (literally just the death certificate with the cause of death listed; no details like estimated time of death).

You sound like you probably know all the next steps, but I found that the deadline by which you have to register the death creeps up very quickly, so it's something to keep on your radar.

@C152 said 'I found that the deadline by which you have to register the death creeps up very quickly, so it's something to keep on your radar.'

This was something I was initially worried about, but I was told by the coroners office that the clock for having to register the death is put on hold while the cause of death is being established by the coroner / Medical Examiner.

Firstly I’m so sorry for your loss. I know it’s difficult to get anything organised or started until you have the death certificate. You can start the ball rolling with the undertaker about the service you would like etc. you just can’t finalise dates. Investigate with the banks / pensions companies what details they will need - some need an original death certificate / others a certified copy / others a screen shot will suffice.

@P00hstickshas summed it up very well. It will all depend on what the doctors decide is the cause of death, it might not be the cancer Also because your dad passed away at home they may decide a post Mortem if your GP isn’t able to give a specific cause / hasn’t seen your dad recently. I would allow 2 weeks. If the coroner has to get involved they will keep you updated with timescales.

If the medical examiner/coroner wants to investigate and it may take time, they can issue interim certificates. Pretty certain when my mum passed away we had certificates for doing all the admin stuff almost immediately, rather than waiting for the outcome of the inquest

That’s correct

If the whole process of getting a death certificate takes so long, then what happens in cases where the funeral needs to take place quickly (eg within 2 days) because of the deceased's religion?

Yep, I was warned by a neighbour that it might take 2 weeks when my close relative passed away. It's since Shipman apparently and also there was no clear cause of death. It did take a while but you can make some arrangements.