- Thompson Funeral Directors
In life, every goodbye is different and the same is true when arranging a funeral goodbye, whether that’s for a loved one or your own.
Things you should think about
After the death of a family member or close friend, it is important to know that you can depend on experienced, professional people to make all the arrangements to ensure the funeral flows smoothly gravida sodales ultricesnon tellus sed euismod.
It is important that you choose the funeral ceremony that is right for you and your family. Elliotts Funeral Services can guide you through the choices available, and will take care of all the details.
We can take care of the following details
- Contacting appropriate burial or cremation authorities, as well as contacting the doctor, coroner or hospital and collection of certificates
- Preparing and placing newspaper notices locally or internationally
- Arranging monumental masonry for the memorial stone
- Ordering family flowers for the casket
If a relative dies at home the next steps depend on whether the death was sudden or expected.
If expected, the Deceased will have been attended to by his or her GP recently. The first/initial call should be made to this doctor who will be required to visit the home to confirm death has occurred. If the death occurs out of hours, an alternative number may be given to contact a locum doctor. The locum will visit to confirm death has occurred. Your GP should then be contacted during normal working hours to advise that death has occurred.
Once death has been confirmed the Funeral Director should be called.
In the case of a sudden death the Coroner may decide the Deceased cannot be moved from the home. They may request that a particular Funeral Director under contract to the Coroner’s Service be called to remove the body to the local hospital for post mortem. It is important to note that in this case, the family may utilise an alternative Funeral Director to make the funeral arrangements for them.
If the death is unexpected, the first call should be made to the Deceased’s G.P. who was attending during his or her last illness. The GP may advise that the family contact their nearest Garda Station, as the Gardaí may wish to contact the Coroner. If contacting the GP out of hours normally a number for an out of hours/locum doctor will be given; once contacted they will arrange for a doctor to call to the house. the Funeral Director should be contacted at this stage.
In the event of any death at home the family may also wish to contact a Priest or Minister of their faith.
Normally a doctor will be in attendance or called to confirm death. The doctor and/or staff will confirm to you whether or not a post mortem examination will be required. In most instances, this will not be necessary and you are free to telephone a Funeral Director to make funeral arrangements.
Who is the Coroner and what does he/she do?
The Coroner is an independent official with responsibility under the law for the medicolegal investigation of certain deaths. The Coroner must enquire into the circumstances of sudden, unexplained, violent and unnatural deaths. This may require a post-mortem examination, sometimes followed by an inquest. The Coroner’s inquiry is concerned with establishing whether or not death was due to natural or unnatural causes. If a death was due to unnatural causes, then an inquest must be held by law.
The post-mortem examination (autopsy) is a procedure to establish the cause of death. The procedure is carried out professionally by a pathologist and should result in no disfigurement of the body, which would affect subsequent viewing by the family, or friends of the Deceased.
It may take up to eight weeks (occasionally longer) before a post-mortem examination report from the pathologist is received at the Coroner’s Office. The death cannot be registered until the post-mortem examination report is received.
What deaths must be reported to the Coroner
In general, causes of death that are notifiable to the Coroner are death as a result of any of the following:
- violence or misadventure by unfair means;
- negligence or misconduct or malpractice on the part of others; or
- any cause other than natural illness or disease for which the Deceased had been seen and treated by a registered medical practitioner in the month preceding death.
Contact Information
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Thompson's Funeral Home,
Junction Mount Hawkins & Kirwins Lane,
Off Leinster Street,
Athy, Co. Kildare R14 NX80
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