Expected Death

EXPECTED DEATH: at home

If the death occurs at home and was expected, contact the doctor who attended the deceased during their final illness. If the doctor can certify the cause of death, he or she will give you the following:

• A Formal Notice that states that the doctor has signed the Medical Certificate and tells you how to get the death registered
• A Medical Certificate that shows the cause of death (this is free of charge and will be in a sealed envelope addressed to the Registrar of Deaths).

If the doctor treating the deceased had not seen him or her either after the death or within 14 days before the death, the death must be reported to the coroner.

Expected death: in hospital

Post Mortems – Islam DOES NOT permit post-mortems if they are not required by the law.
If you are asked for permission to do a post-mortem for an expected death, then please do not agree to this.

As it is an expected death, doctors will only ask for research purposes. Islam does not permit post-mortems if they are not required by the law.

If the death occurs in hospital, the hospital staff will contact the person named by the deceased as next of kin. If close family or friends are in hospital, it is important that you make sure that hospital staff are aware of and have recorded details of the next of kin in case of emergency.

A doctor will issue a Formal Notice and Medical Certificate The hospital will keep the body in the hospital mortuary until the next of kin arranges for it to be taken away. Please note that the hospital will not normally release the body until the Green Form is obtained from the Registrar of Deaths. Hospital staff will also arrange for the next of kin to collect the deceased’s possessions.