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H.M. Coroner

Often when a sudden or unexpected death occurs the Coroner has to be informed. This can be as a result of an accident or trauma or, more usually, simply because the deceased person had not seen their doctor for a prescribed period of time. H. M. Coroner has a duty to establish the cause of death when a doctor feels unable to certify a definite cause of death.

If the deceased person died in a home, residence or in a public place, the body may have to be transferred to a local mortuary facility for examination. This transfer will be carried out by a funeral company contracted by the Coroner to do so. Usually, these funeral companies are very large and often carry out these contracts for either very little payment or, more recently, no payment at all. They do so in the hope that they can persuade bereaved clients to use their services. You are under no obligation at all to use these companies for funeral services.

The Coroner may arrange for a post mortem examination to be held. This does not necessarily involve invasive surgery and can simply mean that the Pathologist needs to carry out a thorough external examination of the body and, possibly, remove some tissue or fluids for tests.

In the event of a full autopsy being carried out, the Coroner’s mortuary staff will normally do so as efficiently as possible and with the maximum care and respect for the deceased.

Relatives will be kept informed of the situation by the Coroner's Officer and, in due course, notification issued by the Coroner will be sent to the Registrar. This enables the death to be registered in the usual way. An inquest is held when death is found to be from other than natural causes.

H. M. Coroner, the Coroner’s officers, the Pathologist and mortuary staff are all highly trained individuals who recognise the great importance of their duties and will always endeavour to carry out those duties in a timely manner. The involvement of H. M. Coroner will not usually delay the funeral in any way.