When Someone Dies

Coping with the death of a loved one can be overwhelming. 

Heaney Keenan are here to help you through this difficult period assisting with all of the necessary steps required to arrange a funeral.

From moving the deceased to the wake house or chapel of rest to supplying obituary cards, it has been our solemn privilege to provide a service to our customers that has always been underlined by dignity and deference.

At Home

Contact the deceased’s doctor (or out of hours doctor) who, in normal circumstances, will issue the Medical Certificate of Death or if after hours confirm death until the deceaseds own G.P. can issue the Cetificate. You should then contact us, Heaney Keenan Funeral Directors Newry & Banbridge for further assistance.

At Hospital

A member of staff will help you with the procedures and let you know if the hospital doctor is issuing the Medical Certificate of Death or if the Coroner is to be involved. You should then contact us, Heaney Keenan Funeral Directors Newry & Banbridge for further assistance.

At Nursing Home

A member of staff will normally liaise with the doctor who will issue the Medical Certificate of Death. You should then contact us, Heaney Keenan Funeral Directors Newry & Banbridge for further assistance.  

Sudden Death

Post-mortems
The coroner may decide a post-mortem is needed to find out how the person died. This can be done either in a hospital or mortuary.

You cannot object to a coroner’s post-mortem - but if you’ve asked the coroner must tell you (and the person’s GP) when and where the examination will take place.

After the post-mortem
The coroner will release the body for a funeral once they have completed the post-mortem examinations and no further examinations are needed.

If the body is released with no inquest, the coroner will send a form (‘Pink Form - form 100B’) to the registrar stating the cause of death.  The coroner will also send a ‘Certificate of Coroner - form Cremation 6’ if the body is to be cremated.

If the coroner decides to hold an inquest
A coroner must hold an inquest if the cause of death is still unknown, or if the person: possibly died a violent or unnatural death or died in prison or police custody. You cannot register the death until after the inquest. The coroner is responsible for sending the relevant paperwork to the registrar.

The death cannot be registered until after the inquest, but the coroner can give you an interim death certificate to prove the person is dead. You can use this to let organisations know of the death and apply for probate.

When the inquest is over the coroner will tell the registrar what to put in the register.