The law requires that everyone's death has to be registered, and the death certificate must contain not only the personal details, but also the medical cause of death.
A death must be reported to the Coroner if:
- no doctor is able to provide a certificate, which conforms with the regulations, stating the cause of death, or
- there are grounds for thinking the death may have been due to an injury or some unnatural cause, e.g. industrial disease, the effects of drugs, an injury or the cause is not known.
The Coroner has to carry out an enquiry into cases such as these to establish the cause of death, and this sometimes involves a post mortem examination. Depending on the information he gets, the Coroner may decide either:
- that an inquest is not required. He will then give details to the Registrar of Births and Deaths so that the death can be registered, or
- that an inquest is necessary to find out the circumstances of the death. Registration cannot take place until the inquest has been held.
In either case, every effort will be made to avoid the need to change any funeral arrangements which may have been made. Unfortunately in some circumstances this cannot be helped.
