Place of death

Discovery of death at home

When a family member discovers that a loved one is suspected to be near death or already dead, it is common to report the case to the police for investigation and have paramedics transport the individual to the Accident and Emergency Department of a hospital. If death is confirmed during this process or if the cause of death is unclear, or if the patient dies within 24 hours of admission, the case is classified as an unnatural death. The body will be transferred to a public mortuary and the case has to be reported to the Coroner. During this process, family members need to meet with a forensic pathologist. They may request an exemption from an autopsy due to the deceased’s old age and medical history, etc. However, even after the case is reported by the police and forensic pathologist, the Coroner may still order an autopsy for further investigation into the cause of death.

Home-based hospice care and passing away

If family members wish to provide home-based hospice care for a patient until the patient passes away, they should note that, according to the Coroners Ordinance (Cap. 504), if the patient is diagnosed with a terminal illness, or has been treated by a registered doctor within 14 days before their passing and dies naturally at home, the case does not need to be reported to the Coroner, and the deceased does not need to be sent to a public mortuary nor undergo an autopsy.

When a patient is in the end-of-life stage or diagnosed with a terminal illness, family members (and the patient) can consult the attending doctor to determine if home care is suitable. Family members need to jointly assess whether they can afford additional expenses, whether medical equipment and supplies need to be added to the home, understand caregiver human resources and late-stage care capabilities, and find a suitable home medical team.

A registered doctor must visit the patient at least once every two weeks and provide appropriate palliative treatment during the final stage. Subsequently, they should hire the staff of the licensed undertaker of burials to inspect the patient’s home and nearby sites to discuss and develop appropriate methods and routes for transporting the body.

According to the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), after a patient passes away at home, the body must not be stored at home for more than 48 hours. Therefore, after accompanying the patient during their passing at home, the family must immediately notify the doctors and funeral providers they have hired, and the body must not be moved during this period.

The registered doctor should promptly visit the home to assess the patient’s death with an electrocardiogram and sign the  Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death (Form 18)  and the Medical Certificate (Cremation) (Form 2). These documents should be immediately handed over to the funeral director or family member, who will go to the Deaths Registries in Wan Chai or Sham Shui Po to handle the death registration, act as the informant, and obtain the “Certified Copy of a Death Entry” (commonly known as “death certificate”) and the Certificate of Registration of Death (Form 12) (commonly known as “going-out pass”). After the documents are prepared and returned home, the funeral service staff and hearse team can transport the deceased’s body to a legally operated private institution or funeral home mortuary for storage.

Family members also need to pay attention to the details of handling the deceased’s body. Since the doctor may not be able to arrive immediately after the person’s death to confirm the death and sign the death documents, and the person’s death may occur in the afternoon or evening, it may not be possible to complete the Certificate of Registration of Death (Form 12) on the same day. As a result, the deceased’s body needs to be stored at home until the next day when all the death documents are completed before it can be removed from the residence. Therefore, funeral and mortuary providers need to have professional knowledge of body preservation and prevention of decomposition and cannot rely on the temperature of home air conditioning as an effective method for preserving the body.

If family members need to handle the death registration for the deceased on a Sunday or public holiday, they must go to the ” The Births and Deaths General Register Office” located in Admiralty. The registration time is from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm. After completing the death registration process, funeral providers can be arranged to transport the deceased’s body away from the residence.

Passing away in residential care homes

On June 3, 2024, the government announced that according to Coroners Ordinance (Cap. 504) and the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap 174), deaths of residents of residential care homes for the elderly or residential care homes for people with disabilities are not required to be reported to the Coroner’s Court if the residents concerned were diagnosed as having terminal illnesses and had been attended to by a registered doctor within 14 days before their deaths, and the causes of death stated in certificates of the cause of death of the deceased are natural causes.

If a patient is in a hospice ward of a residential care home and passes away there, family members need to maintain good communication and arrangements with the residential care home. The process of handling death documents and body transfers after the person’s passing is similar to that required for Home-based Hospice Care in the previous section.