The Coroner

Deaths reported to the Coroner

Legally some deaths are required to be reported to HM coroner, if this happens a doctor will complete a report which is sent electronically to the HM coroner’s office, the bereavement office will advise you if the death has or will be reported. There are specific circumstances when a death is required by law to be reported to the coroner. Some examples of such circumstances are: • The cause of death is unknown • The death was due to self-harm, violence, trauma or injury • The death was due to neglect, including self-neglect • The death was due to an injury or disease attributable to any employment held by the person during the person’s lifetime • The death was due to the use of a medicinal product, the use of a controlled drug or psychoactive substance • The death was due to poisoning including by an otherwise benign substance • The death was due to a person undergoing any treatment or procedure of a medical or similar nature • The persons death was unnatural but does not fall within any of the above circumstances • The registered medical practitioner suspects that the person died while in custody or otherwise state detention

When a death is reported to the office, the coroner will consider the information and do one of three things: 1. Give a doctor permission to issue a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death and then take no further action. 2. Order a post mortem examination. Depending on the results, the coroner will (a) find the death natural and close the case; (b) open an investigation, where further information is obtained from doctors and/or others; or (c) open an inquest, which is a fact-finding court hearing about the circumstances of the death. 3. Open an inquest without a post mortem examination.

If the coroner has decided that the hospital doctor can issue the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death the coroner will issue a document (form 100A) which will be sent to the registrar of births and deaths, once this has been issued the bereavement office will contact you regarding the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. If a post mortem is necessary the coroner’s officer will explain why, following the post mortem if the death is natural you will be informed of the cause of death and when documentation will be sent directly to the Registrar of birth and deaths. If an investigation or inquest is required either with or without a post mortem the coroner’s officer will inform you. In some instances when an inquest, which is a formal public enquiry into the cause and circumstances of a death, is necessary the death cannot be registered until after the inquest, but the coroner can give you an interim death certificate. When the inquest is over the coroner will tell the registrar of births and deaths what to put in the register and send the relevant paperwork to the registrar. A coroner’s officer assigned will contact a designated family member to discuss the death and keep you informed of the coroner’s decision. The coroner’s officer is responsible for guiding and helping you through the process. Whilst the bereavement office staff will be able to provide you with information relating to the procedures following a death it is not possible for them to influence any processes where the offices of HM coroner are involved. Contact details of HM Coroner’s Office for this area is: Inner South London Coroners Office, 1 Tennis Street, Southwark, SE1 1YD. Telephone number 020 7525 4200 Website www.innersouthlondoncoroner.org.uk You can still contact a funeral director of your choice to start making arrangements for the funeral, however please do not make any final arrangements until the coroners office have advised you to do so.