If someone dies at home

[UpsettingqueryAboutDeath]

Sorry if this is upsetting.

I have googled the advice if someone dies at home, which is basically if it’s expected you call the GP and if it’s not expected you call 999.

But how do you gauge if it’s “expected”?

The reason for asking is I have a familiar member in their 70s who has health problems. But not got a terminal diagnosis.

They live alone and are not looking after themselves. They don’t appear to want to.

We are exploring care options to help. But if person does not want to help themselves and one day we find them dead, would this be expected or unexpected?

Typing it all out, I think it would be safest to call 999. But does anyone have any experience or advice?

If they haven’t seen a gp in preceding weeks.

I'd probably call 999.

I would say it’s unexpected. Expected is for people who expected to die as in they’re terminally ill.

I would call 999. No one is going to tell you off for that.

My MIL died at home, she had been in hospital prior and released on home hospice care. We phoned the gp once she had gone and they pronounced the death.

Edited to add, she was on end of life so it was certainly an expected death.

I was told if they haven’t seen a gp in last 14 days you do need to inform emergency services so they can certify death

Yes call 999. What would you do if it’s a Friday night, GP isn’t open until Monday.

Unless they had a terminal diagnosis, it would be unexpected. The police would want to investigate if someone in their seventies was found dead. My friend was questioned when she was present at her 95 year old father's death at his home.

Usually when they say expected, it means that person is known to be at the end of their life, they’re under the regular care of their GP and usually the Palliative team as well. District nurses or other palliative care are usually attending at home.

I was told to ring the GP if the death occurred during surgery hours. If it didn’t then ring 999.

I would call 999 in those circumstances

I’m not an expert but in those circumstances if I found a relative dead, I’d first try their GP surgery (if I had that info) or if out of hours I’d have no trouble ringing 999. The only thing to consider of course is that if you dialled 999, they might ask or expect you to do CPR. If it’s clear the person is truly gone, that would not be something you’d want to attempt.

My assumption is that ‘expected’ is people who are terminally ill and on palliative care. They’d likely then be in the care of district nurses or palliative team and that would be much more predictable or ‘expected’ and it’s likely a GP would be involved. If outside of that definition, you just have to use whatever resource is available to you.

Thank you for advice. I hope I don’t ever need it, but it has been bothering me.

I think we’d need to gauge it if it happens in this way, and hope that it’s clear what to do in terms of whether GP becomes more involved and advises of possibility of rapid deterioration or sudden event or whatever, or if person was seemingly ok and then found dead I’d call 999.

My Mum had cancer. Was expected to die but not as quick as she did as she went downhill, fast, over a weekend and was still in the oncology system (she had decided she didnt want palliative chemo but had not yet told them) and not in the palliative care system.

We were given a GP just in case medication box. If we had access to the palliative care it would have been easier. I understand if they think someone is in the last 6 months of life you can ask for the PC team to be involved.

Mum went downhill on a Friday night. I had to care for her with my relative who is a care home manager. Thank goodness! She managed to access the district nurses for us to administer the meds we had and guided me on her deteriorating condition. I understand if we had been in the PC system they would have helped with this.

By Sunday we were close to needing hospital because the meds were running out and I had no way of getting more. But she peacefully slipped away whilst Dad was with her.

We had to have a doctor come to sign a death certificate. We were lucky to get one as it was Sunday night. The FD we had called and they kindly came once the doctor had been and took her to their place at 10pm.

Both DM and MIL died at home. Both had cancer and were under palliative care, their deaths were treated as expected and confirmed by their respective GPs.

My husband was terminally ill and had seen a doctor within 48 hours. The GP certified death.
Just one thing to be aware of if you call an ambulance they may attempt CPR- we had a DNR in place just in case - this was a few years ago so I don't know what the protocol is now

My mother died at home last year. It wasn’t imminently expected but had seen a GP fairly recently. It was a Friday early evening. I called 999. They did try and instruct me to do CPR as my Dad wasn’t certain when he had last spoken to her (one or two hours), but as my mother was clearly no longer with us and had a DNR I wasn’t going to do that, but tbh the ambulances (they sent two) arrived whilst I was still on the phone having this conversation. The paramedics were great and took over and advised me on what to do next, which was contact an undertaker. The undertakers came in a couple of hours.

My dad died at home last month he was unwell before hand but it wasn't expected x we called 999 and they asked if it was expected so I assume if we had of answered yes they may have asked us to call the .They sent an ambulance round and the police. it was a different type of ambulance to the one you normally see the police took care of everything for us x 😪

Do they have a DNR in place? If it’s expected you already should know who to call, as you will have probably been involved with palliative care. In my Mothers situation, We phoned the district nurse, she certified the death and then we called the funeral directors. She had terminal cancer.
My Father has a DNR, but is a fairly healthy 89 year old. I would still call 999 if he died unexpectedly in front of me, just to confirm what to do. If in doubt always call 999, they will guide you through the process. No point relying on a GP.

If on an end of life pathway with a clear RESPECT AND DNR then it’s GP.
Anything else however expected then it’s 999 and you can say .. it’s not an urgent call for help , it’s for certification of life extinct.
Sorry for your relative . 💐

Do they have a respect form? (purple form a bit like the old style DNAR). As long as they have one if you dial 999 the paramedics can follow wishes.
They don’t need to go to hospital though, usually a GP can come out and confirm death then they can go straight to the funeral director

I rang 999 when I found DM had died, she was old (82) but reasonably well and to be perfectly honest I hadn't really a clue. Ambulance came round then the police.

I would call GP if they are open. My DM passed away early hours, it was expected. DF rung 999. Police turned up as treated as death in the community and searched house etc to make sure nothing untoward. Not nice as she was terminal and just felt like it was added stress we didn’t need

My dad died at home after a long illness - he died at 3.20 PM, I called the district nurse who came out and verified death - then called the undertaker who arranged to come round the next morning and collect him, which they did.

The GP then goes to the undertakers to do their checks, then the formalities of death registration etc.

No need to involve the police if it expected, just go through the GP and if on a weekend 111 or the district nurses office.

I had a relative die at my home. It was very expected with nurses in and out. As it was out of hours we had been given a number for an out of hours GP to come and pronounce death. We had to have this before the undertakers could come to collect them.