Say I’m walking down the street in a strange (to me) town, and get clipped by a bus. I’m rushed to the hospital where I lay comatose.
All I had on me was my driver’s license, which has my address (no SSN). I live alone.
What is the procedure for finding my “next of kin”?
Spouses/parents/siblings/aunts/uncles/whatever are always found on Law & Order, but they never show how they were found.
Who is going to find my mommy for me and tell her I got hit by a bus?
I don’t know the answer to this, but I’d like to, so I hope no one minds me giving it a little bump.
(When my grandfather passed out on the street, they found my mother by calling the numbers in stored in his cell phone, which were identified only by name, not by relationship. “Bobbie” could have been anyone, as far as they knew. I have no idea of what they would have done if he hadn’t had the cell phone.)
Thank you for the bump. I was about to bump it myself, telling Dopers THEY were responsible for telling my mommy I was in the hospital should I ever wind up immobilized in their city 
I saw a documentary on what happens to the indigent when they die. Here’s kind of how it goes:
They find your body and find your address (if you didn’t die at home). They go through your belongings in your apartment and look for address books and phone numbers and the like. They make a diligent effort to locate your family, keeping records of all the attempts and any correspondence they might have with people in your life. If they find relatives, they make arrangements for the body to be picked up or transported. Sometimes no one cares and they refuse to take responsibility for the body. In that case, they sell your stuff at an auction (yes, they auction stuff that is Salvation Army quality or less). They have cremations and they park the ashes in a warehouse for about 2 years. If no one claims your ashes, they hold a mass burial of all the cremains. This documentary was filmed somewhere in California; LA, I believe.
I watched this a while back during one of its semi-regular appearances on IFC. Don’t suppose you recall the name of the film, do you?
That’s so weird - I was wondering this myself the other day. I figured they would probably call the most recent number on my “Dialed Calls” list.
Interesting, but…I’m not indigent. I’ve got decent clothing and good shoes and a driver’s license that shows I live in the suburbs in Ohio. I don’t happen to have a cell phone on me.
I’m knocked out cold and can’t tell anyone any time soon who they should call.
I suppose the hospital at least wants to know who’s going to be paying for my visit.
Who’s job is it to find out who to get in touch with? Does the hospital maybe send the cops in my town over to my house to rifle through my things and perhaps find “MOM” or “NEXT OF KIN” in my address book?
What if I don’t have a paper address book - it’s on my password-protected computer?
What if they knock on my neighbor’s door and the neighbor doesn’t know anything about me?
Are there different rules for what can be done if I am dead?
I think I am just going to stay home until I get this sorted out…
Instead of leaving it to chance, you could do what I do. I carry a piece of paper that, among other things, has the names of my sisters with their home, cell and work phone numbers. It’s with my driver’s license and I never go anywhere without it.
My wallet contains cards with both my US address and my Australian address, and they are more likely for find people at the latter. So I presume that if I dropped dead or unconscious here, the local police might get in touch with people through the New South Wales Police, or by phone (the relations at the Australian address have the same surname, so they are in the phone book, and the phone book is online).
Here at the library we once had coroners assistants come through and ask if the staff or patrons knew anything about this guy with no ID who dropped dead at the McDonalds. I don’t know if they found out who he was and who knew him or not.
My cell phone has an ICE (in case of emergency) number stored in the address book. Whether it helps or not may be debatable, but it’s a costless measure to make my mommy happy.
As to the OP, you really have to wonder what would happen if you passed out, then were plastered inside a wall.
I have a little “in case of emergency” card in my wallet too. If it’s really a concern, tape it to whatever ID you always carry. Or a tattoo would work. 
It’s called A Certain Kind of Death. http://www.blockbuster.com/catalog/movieDetails/221827
It’s one of those films that I think everyone should watch. Absolutely fascinating, but I found it to be terribly sad, as well.
Odd, I was wondering this myself just recently. I have one of those ID bracelets that I wear when I’m out walking the dogs or running or biking. For most other situations I have my drivers license with me and they can get my emergency contacts from that.
I’m a little weird about the whole notification thing. I was in a car vs. bicycle accident once and was found by the paramedics by the side of the road unconscious. No ID, and even after I came back around I stumbled on my name - I’d just got married a couple of months prior and forgot my married name for a minute. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt badly and was able to cough up a phone number after a bit. Right about the time of my accident there was a story in the local newspaper about a woman bicyclist who was seriously injured and was in a coma for some time. She’d just moved to the area and had no ID on her and they (hospital? police?) finally published her description in the paper hoping someone knew her. Eventually someone from her work saw the article and came forward with her name. It hit home for me because of the similar circumstances AND the fact that her last name was the same as mine.
My ID bracelet not only has my name and emergency contacts but my birth year, blood type, drug allergies and info on medical conditions. I’m not fooling around - I don’t want any delays in either notification or treatment.
I had a brother living across the country who was comatose after an accident. He had no ID. Bits of info recalled by a recent acquaintance were used as a starting point. It took three weeks before next of kin received word. According to the recent acquaintance, who knew him all of two days, the doctors were pressuring her to consent to them pulling the plug.
:dubious: They were going to let someone who isn’t even claiming to be related order him off life support?
I saw an accident where a young woman on a 55 cc bike got nailed by a taxi. She wasn’t able to talk, but we found her cell phone and went through the address book until we found “Mom.” Fortunately, it worked.
Virtually all driver license registrations today include the driver’s Social Security number and date of birth. With that information, the local Social Security Administration office can print out the data from your application for a Social Security number, which includes the names of your parents, and your place of birth. The SSA can also supply the name and address of your current (or most recent) employer, who would likely have the name and address of an emergency contact person. If you are a renter, your rental application also probably includes the name and address of an emergency contact person.
Another factor is that with an address and name, AIUI the authorities can pull your phone records for the past month or so, and see whom you’ve called or been called by. Even if you’ve not had much contact with your family, it’s probable that one’s friend or acquaintance would be able to point the authorities towards where to look for your family.
“I don’t know where his parents live, but he said he grew up in the Boston area.”
Still a large haystack, but better than sorting through the whole nation.
Yeah, but who uses a landline these days? They’d have to find my cel records to get anything useful.