Family Relationship

1. Get a legal pronouncement of death. If no doctor is present, you’ll need to contact someone to do this:

• If the person dies at home under hospice care, call the hospice nurse, who can declare the death and help facilitate the transport of the body.
• If the person dies at home without hospice care, call 911, and have in hand a do-not-resuscitate document if it exists. Without one, paramedics will generally start emergency procedures and, except where permitted to pronounce death, take the person to an emergency room for a doctor to make the declaration.

2. Arrange for transportation of the body. If no autopsy is needed, the body can be picked up by a mortuary (by law, a mortuary must provide price info over the phone) or crematorium.

3. Notify the person’s doctor or the county coroner.

4. Notify close family and friends. (Ask some to contact others.)

5. Handle care of dependents and pets.

6. Call the person’s employer, if he or she was working. Request info about benefits and any pay due. Ask whether there was a life-insurance policy through the company.