Things you should know before you go:

When death occurs... what do you do next?
By Andrew Hodges
February 2006

The majority of people in Canada die in hospitals or in some kind of care facility such as a nursing or retirement home. If a person's next of kin is not present, the staff will call the family to inform them of the death. With terminal patients, staff may notice changes in the patient's condition which signal that death will soon occur and that it is time to call in the family.

In small towns like St. Marys, if the family has been informed of the death over the phone, the hospital or care facility may offer a chance to have some personal time before the body is removed. Some larger facilities may have a private room that the body can be moved to for the family to spend some quiet time.

Following the death, the family will be asked which funeral home to contact and if the family wishes, the staff will call on their behalf. If the family chooses to call the funeral home themselves, the funeral home staff will ask some basic questions such as: What is the name of the deceased? Where is that person's body now? Who is calling -- their relationship to deceased, address and phone number? The funeral home will also ask when the family will be able to meet to discuss funeral arrangements.

The funeral home will then ask that the family bring in the following items to the funeral home for the arrangement meeting: the deceased's social insurance number, clothing and, if possible, a recent picture. The funeral home will let the family know that they will be in contact with the facility staff to find out when they can transfer the body.

Some larger hospitals and long-term care facilities may have an on-site morgue that the body is moved to until all documentation has been completed. In smaller locations, the funeral home will come directly to the bed and transfer the body from there, but not until the staff have obtained a signed medical certificate by a doctor, completed their own in-house documentation and perhaps remove any equipment and place the body in a body bag.

If there are any personal effects such as jewellery or extra clothes, the facility staff will likely suggest that the family to take them at that time or come back later to collect them, or arrange for the funeral home to take them when they arrive.

In regards to situations that delay the transfer of a body to the funeral home such as organ donation or an autopsy, I will explain the process in later articles.

When a deceased person is discovered at a residence or accident scene, whoever finds them should call the police. They will arrive, along with the local coroner to determine if there is any need for an investigation into the cause of death. If the body is released from that site, the funeral home will be called once the coroner has signed the medical certificate. If the coroner orders further investigation by way of an autopsy, the body will be transferred by a funeral home or transfer company to a hospital where that autopsy can take place. In this situation, when the family speaks to the funeral home, the same questions as with death in care facilities.

I want to mention the importance of setting up an appointment time to make funeral arrangements. This way, the funeral director will have enough time to properly go through an arrangement and the family will not feel rushed and will also have time to think about how they want the funeral to be.

In larger towns and cities, some funeral homes may hire an answering service to take their phone calls at night. The phones are forwarded so that when someone calls they will still hear the name of the funeral home they wish to reach. If a death has occurred, either the answering service will do the transfer on behalf of the funeral home or they will call the funeral home staff to spring into action. However, in small towns like St. Marys, when someone calls a funeral home at 3 a.m. they will be talking to the funeral director.