Report a death

Person signing documents with a pen on papers placed on a table

What deaths must be reported

If a death is sudden, unexplained, violent or unnatural it must be reported to the Coroner. These are known as reportable deaths.

A list of all reportable deaths is found in the Second Schedule of the Coroner’s Act 1962 – 2024.

A reportable death in a hospital must be reported by a medical practitioner, nurse or midwife responsible for or involved in the treatment or care of the deceased person in the period immediately before their death or who was present at their death.

All deaths in nursing homes must be reported to the coroner. A medical professional working in the nursing home must report the death.

Reportable deaths that take place in the community are reported to the Coroner by An Garda Síochána.

Please Contact us where, having referred to the Second Schedule, you are still unsure if a death should be reported to the coroner.

Report a death

How to report a death in a Nursing Home to the Coroner

If you are reporting an expected death in a nursing home you must complete the

How to report a death in a Hospital to the Coroner

Number One web icon

If you are reporting a death in a hospital
you must use the correct report template.
If you are reporting a death in a general
hospital you must complete this
Hospital death report.
If you are reporting a death in a
maternity hospital you must complete
either the Report for a perinatal, neonatal,
infant death
or the Report for a stillbirth.

Number Two web icon

Once the medical professional has
entered all of the required information
into the correct form, save it to
your computer.

Number Three web icon

For a hospital death or a maternity
hospital death, the reporting medical
professional must then click here to
open the email to be sent to the death
referral officer on duty.

Add the name and date of birth of the
deceased in the email’s subject line.
Then attach the saved report, and press send.

You will receive an automatic
notification as proof of receipt of email.

What happens when a death has been reported

Nursing Home web icon

Expected death in a nursing home

When the death report has been received, the referral officer may contact the treating GP named in the submitted report to confirm that:

  • The doctor has seen and treated the deceased within one month of the date of death;
  • The cause of death is known, and the death was due to natural causes;
  • There are no family concerns.

Where these conditions are met, and there are no other matters requiring investigation, the Coroner will allow the doctor to complete a Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death so the death may be registered with the Registrar of Deaths.

Coroner staff will notify the nursing home of the Coroner’s decision and agreement to release the remains of the deceased.

Hospital building web icon

Reportable death in hospital

When the report is received the Coroner’s referral officer will contact the reporting medical professional  to establish if there are other matters that require investigation.

If there are no other matters that require investigation, the Coroner will allow the medical professional to complete a Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death so the death may be registered with the Registrar of Deaths.

Coroner staff will notify the reporting medical professional of the Coroner’s decision and agreement to release the remains of the deceased.

The bereaved must be made aware of the decision not to investigate.

Further investigation

What happens if further investigation is required?

A doctor/medical professional cannot certify a cause of death that is deemed or suspected to be unnatural or unexplained.

If further investigation is required, based on information available, the Coroner will decide if:

  • A death may be certified without any further action
  • A post mortem examination is required to establish the cause of death
  • Where the cause of death is unnatural or unexplained, an inquest is required.

The remains of the deceased will not be released to the family until advised to do so by the Coroner’s office.

Where an inquest is to be held, the coroner will seek detailed reports from treating health care professionals to assist with the inquiry.

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