Changing A Death Certificate And Green Form

[Greedyfly]

Hello

Today we registered a death and at the time of registration we were under the impression that the deceased wanted to be buried. Unfortunately different information has come to light and it turns out that Cremation is how the deceased will go.

Having been asked by the doctor certifying the death and the registrar 'burial or cremation' will it matter that this info has changed?

We have checked both the green form and death certificates for this information and neither state burial or cremation so I am assuming the question was asked for their records?

Any know anything about this?

Thanks

GF

[mazie]

We had to wait the same amount of time ummmm when Mum died. My Sis had to get from New Zealand. I'm sorry for your loss xx

[EDDIE51]

Embalming was normal years ago when there were no cold storage facilities for bodies. It is rarely needed now. There can often be several weeks delay between death and cremation or burial,especially around Christmas / New Year holiday time.

[woofgang]

Funny story?

When I was working we needed storage space for the equipment we used to loan to people....sticks, walking frames, loo and bath aids and so on. I was told I could have the old mortuary which hadn’t been used for many years, but I would have to put up with the fridge staying in it as there was no budget for safe degassing and removal. My helper at that time was very new to NHS work and the more ermmm discreet side of things so I thought I would talk to her about using the mortuary and let her get used to the idea. So I sat her down and told her. She took it well and wasn’t bothered about the previous use so I mentioned the fridge.....”Oh that’s good” she said “we can store our lunches in there”......
No, we didn’t!!

[ummmm]

Thanks, Mazie, the delay is because my uncle is away x

[hc4361]

Embalmed bodies can be cremated and very often are.

[murraymints]

Fil was embalmed and cremated

[Dogsbody2]

Yup I agree also. Eddie is misinformed. Just had experience of it.

[Peter Pedant]

GreddyFly - sorry for your bereavement

your nerves are up in the air and you should take a deep breath and a glass of dry white wine

Your first stop is the funeral director - have you named one ? As far as I can see they all know each other and will be well versed in handly changed - in director but also funeral practices. You cant be the first.

Ring the funeral director tomorrow and ask
easy
we have a burial cert and we want to cremate - what do we do ?

you could try - we have a burial cert can we use that for cremation

I almost certainly know the answer to that one but the director will tell you what is to be done ( yes the crem cert requires two doctors signatures but he will be used to russling up the certifying doctor and the part 2 doctor )

and good luck

( crem they have to very sure they wont want to later dig up the body and finally do a post-mortem. and dont ASK for a post mortem - we had a rel die beginning of april and got the DC Dec 23 rd, from the various civil servants who all wanted to shuffle the papers )

If the coroner has been informed (and it sounds as tho he hasnt)
then ringing the coroners officer might be helpful.

if he hasnt - then dont ring him unless you are happy to have the funeral some time in 2017 ( see above )

I was musing about this the other night
my grandparents who died same night 1928 were buried within four days
and my father 1972 cremated with five. See above - we got a death cert for the death in April six months to the day after his death in 2015
( shipman apparently ) i

[Peter Pedant]

yup agree with the ctee
we were told we had to embalm or they wouldnt do the funeral ( crem ) so we said go ahead....

but of course the funeral directors knew how the civil servants were gonna drag their feet .....

[jomifl]

Embalmed bodies can have a natural burial. When my brother died he had a 'green' burial and because he was buried rather later than is normal in a woven willow coffin it was necessary that he was embalmed. Embalming in this case is just the injection of preservatives to preserve the gut so that accidents don't happen in a coffin that isn't leakproof. It was not expensive, about £50 if I remember correctly. The burial ground was not owned by the council by the way.

[hc4361]

PP, it is now against the law for a funeral director to tell you the body must be embalmed when this is not the case.

[Haggisdj]

When my brother died they asked the same question. It was explained to us that in our case it was for the coroner so that, if required, they could take more samples from the body should the deceased be cremated.

[saxy_jag]

Embalming prior to cremation and natural burial depends on what chemicals are used. Some crems and natural burial sites don't permit it at all, some will allow it. My own authority 'doesn't recommend' it pre-cremation.

[hc4361]

I have no idea how samples are taken after a body has been embalmed. I didn't think it possible.

[saxy_jag]

hc4361 - same way as before embalming, I would imagine but of course, they would be 'contaminated' and probably useless if there were any questions raised about the nature of the death.

[jomifl]

saxy_jag, I think Agatha Christie's preferred method of murder would show up after emalming.

[Greedyfly]

Hello all

Thanks so much for the help and advice. It turns out there is nothing to change 'legally' just an extra piece of paperwork to be completed and another doctor to certify the death which is being arranged.

We have been to the funeral director and all that is in place, just awaiting a date to be offered as they are planning it for us in another town.

Again, thanks all

GF

[Greedyfly]

Re the embalming debate, we were asked if we wanted to embalm and we are cremating.

[sherrardk]

Glad you got it sorted out, sorry for your loss.

[hc4361]

Greedyfly, apologies for going so far off topic.