Let me start off by saying the events happened 5 years ago. I’m NOT asking for any sympathy or condolences.
My brother passed after a long fight with cancer in his home. They had rented him a hospital bed and he left peacefully with his wife and son with him. There’s no way I feel I could ask either what they did next, so I’m asking here…
I know in this situation, you don’t just call the funeral home. So, what do you do? What is the procedure? Call the attending physician? The police? EMTs? A medical examiner?
I would think the coroner. But considering the situation you mentioned I would think they would call someone they trusted, maybe a pastor or nurse and they would then call the proper person and make the arrangements for the body.
He probably had to be pronounced dead before anything could happen. If he was in hospice, the nurse would have taken over and (I assume) called a doctor. Since he had a hospital bed at home, I’m guessing he was sick enough (which is why I’m guessing hospice) that the family was in pretty close contact with at least one main doctor. They’d call her/him and that person would probably take over from there. Either coming to the house, sending someone else over or sending an ambulance over to pick him up and have him transported somewhere where the/a doctor could pronounce him dead.
If he could be pronounced dead at the house, I’d guess the funeral home could pick him up from there.
My mother died at home under the same circumstances. The health care worker called the doctor, and my father called the funeral home. The doctor and the funeral home got things worked out between them.
My mother died at home. It wasn’t unexpected. We called the funeral home, they were there in about half an hour. My aunt showed up about the same time and claimed no one could move the body and called a sheriff. A sheriff showed up 20 minutes later and read the riot act to my aunt for wasting his time. We also called my mother’s doctor. He knew why she died and said he would sent a death certificate to the county coroner’s office the next day. Except for my aunt’s theatrics, everything went fairly smooth.
I called the funeral home. I went to school with the Funeral Directors son and knew the family. It seemed like the natural thing to do. They handled everything.
The son I went to school with? He’s now the fifth generation in charge of that home. This occupation seems to run in families.
Happened in my home, I knew to call the Doctor, ( as he’d been in and out for weeks, we all knew what lay ahead.) his office is a block and a half from my house, so it was pretty easy. I didn’t want her to go to the funeral home for a few hours, which the Dr said was no problem. I called them, and they said they’d come whenever I was ready. They came out at 10 pm.
My father died in similar circumstances and the hospice gave us specific instructions to not call 911 but to call the funeral home instead. Since the cause of death was already known, the doctor was able to sign off without seeing or examining him a final time.
In my state (Illinois), if a person is enrolled in hospice, then there is no need to call 911. You call the hospice nurse and/or the funeral home, whichever you’ve been directed to do.
If the person is not enrolled in hospice - if they are in home health care or not receiving any formal care at home - then the death, even if expected by the family, must be investigated. So you should call 911. Often, the “investigation” is very short, particularly if the person is elderly, known to be sick and a quick call to the primary care doctor finds him unsurprised and willing to sign the death certificate. If the PCP is unavailable, unwilling, or there is any suspicion of foul play, then the police will probably have the ambulance transport the body to the local coroner or medical examiner for further investigation.
When my grandmother died last year, (she took her final breaths in front of me and my parents), we called her doctor. Who came in 20 mins and certified everything.
When my parents died (not at the same time, several years apart) we called the hospice. This was followed by the arrival (in order) of a nurse, a police officer to confirm it was an expected death and not last-minute foul play, and then the funeral home folks.
As noted, there is some variation in different places.
When my nephew died unexpectedly at home (lay down for a nap, never woke up) his father called 911, the medics came out, then the police, and the police made arrangements to take the body away for autopsy as part of the investigation as to why the young man died.
I am surprised to see that a living person, albeit at the end of their life, can be declared dead without a doctor. There are many states of unconsciousness and some can resemble death, so it needs someone trained and, I would have thought, someone who can be held to account, to declare a person as dead.
For an expected death, the funeral home is a fine place to start. They’ll make sure a clinician is willing to sign the death certificate, and if so, they’ll pick up the body.
Surely almost all unexpected deaths go the 911 route and end up in my ED unless they are super uper duper dead and need a house call by the police/coroner.
In my parents’ cases my sister couldn’t legally sign the death certificate, being a relative, but she’s an MD with considerable experience in distinguishing “mostly dead” from “completely dead”. She was pretty certain death had occurred when she called to have someone make it official. I would think hospice nurses would also be able to make a reasonable determination and, even if they couldn’t make it official, they would know when to call someone who could do that.