What to do when someone dies

Whether your loved one died at home, in hospice, in a hospital or nursing home, we will provide you with the exact next steps you should take as well as some tips to keep in mind in each situation. Generally speaking, if your loved one was under the care of a nurse or doctor when they died then you don't need to call 911. Both a doctor and a funeral home need to fill out a death certificate, which requires a "cause of death" to be listed. Since the nurse or doctor knows the cause of death they can have a doctor certify it for the death certificate and then the funeral home can come pickup your loved one. If there is no attending nurse or doctor, you will need to call 911 and your loved one will be brought to a hospital or medical examiner's office. There, a doctor or medical examiner can determine the cause of death and your loved one can be released to the funeral home's care.

What to do when someone dies at home?

If the death occurred at home and your loved one was not under any hospice care, you must call 911. The police will need to investigate the death to ensure there is no wrongdoing or suspicious circumstances and a medical examiner, sometimes called a coroner, or hospital will need to confirm the cause of death. You should explain to the police or medical examiner any known medical history of your loved one, which could help them sign off on the cause of death sooner. If the death was unexpected, the medical examiner may need to perform an autospy to determine the cause of death. If an autospy is needed, it may delay the time until your loved one can be released to the funeral home by up to a few days, however exact timing may vary and is dependent on the availability of staff at the medical examiner's office.

Other tips for dealing with a death at home:

1. For unexpected deaths, it is important not to panic however it is normal to feel overwhelmed or very stressed. If this is the case, you should ask a family member, neighbor or friend to help assist you with calling 911, talking to the police or a medical examiner. You may also consider asking them to help you find a funeral home to pickup your loved one from the hospital or medical examiner's office.

2. When someone dies at home, you may also feel the need to rush to contact the funeral home or 911. If you expected the death to occur or it was not a surprise, you may consider not rushing and taking this time to be with your loved one. Unless there are extenuating circumstances surrounding the death, it is totally fine to spend time with your loved one or wait for immediate family or friends nearby to come see them before they are picked up.

What to do when someone dies in hospice, a hospital or a nursing home?

If your loved one died under the care of a nurse or doctor, then you do not need to call 911. This means typically means the death was expected and a nurse can contact the doctor to certify the death. A death must be certified with a cause of death or preliminary cause of death before your loved one can be released to a funeral home.

You should ask the hospital or nursing home how much time you have before you need to contact a funeral home. Or you may ask them for more time with your loved one so other immediate family may come see them before they are taken into the care of the funeral home. Though, it is unlikely that a hospital will accommodate such a request as resources and space tends to be limited.

The next step is to find a funeral home and start planning arrangements for your loved one's funeral. Checkout our other blog posts for how to plan a funeral and how soon after death a funeral occurs, to have an idea of the timeline you'll likely be working on.

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