An Expected Death

Immediately after a death is often a peaceful time. You, family and friends may just want to sit with the person. You may or may not want to be alone. Family and friends can help you during this time, sometimes just by being there. 

An expected death is not an emergency. You don’t need to call for the police or an ambulance. A doctor will need to come and certify the death. If the person was expected to die this is not urgent. The palliative care team can give you more guidance on what to do. When you are ready you or the palliative carer can call our us on tel. 02 69218218

At home there are things that you will need to organise. A written plan of action prepared in advance will help. This could be a list of things to do, with names and phone numbers. Consider which family members and friends you would ring.

An Unexpected Death

Happens when a person who appears to be healthy dies unexpectedly. The coroner will try and determine how and why the person died. One of the roles of the coroner is to reduce preventable deaths. To do this, the coroner will investigate unexpected deaths.

To report an unexpected death contact the police immediately dial 000, or for further advice call your Local Court or the NSW Government’s Coroners Information and Support Program (CISP) Tel. 02- 8584 7777.