Post-mortem/autopsy

I think that if your deaath is not expected and if you have not seen a doctor in the previous fortnight it is mandatory.

Look at it this way. You may be absolutely certain that no-one would hasten your death in any way, but others cannot assume that. If you were the victim of someone like Dr Shipman, wouldn't you want them to be discovered and stopped before they killed anyone else?

That worries me sometimes, EllanVannin, the thought that I could be in some kind of coma or trance and not dead.

A post- mortem in England does not necessarily involve an autopsy. It can simply mean a review of an unexplained death where the deceased has not been seen recently by a doctor, before a death certificate can be issued.
This is not the case in Scotland.

If it happens to me for God's sake make sure I'm dead first !!

I don't fancy having my organs stuffed back in in plastic bags.

I am really against single-use plastic - can I specify something biodegradable? If, of course .....

A post-mortem isn't a nice thought, annsixty, and I can understand you not wanting one.

However, if your death were to be unexpected it might also be suspicious - to the extent that it might have been caused or hastened by somebody. You'd probably want that somebody brought to justice, especially if they'd bumped you off when you were still enjoying life!

My parents both died from an industrial disease, both in hospital so everyone knew what the illness was, but post mortems and inquests still had to be done.
When my Father died in hospital Mum and I were collected in a police car from her home and taken to the undertakers to identify my fathers body, thankfully I didn’t have to do that when Mum died. But there was still an inquest.

I used to type out post-mortems at our local hospital before I retired. If the death is sudden or unexplained then it has to be carried out. I don’t think that you can pre-book a solicitor to guard against this. Personally I would want my family to know why I had died, if suddenly, just in case it is something that they can avoided. Maybe an illness that is passed onto my children and grand children. It is all done professionally and you wont feel a thing.

lemongrove
Reminded me of Our Albert
It were a sad day, that

I think there seem to be more and more post-mortems now than there were.
Any unexplained death or, apparently, a death from other causes than an original diagnosis seem to be the norm. I think that if you die at home there has to be a post-mortem.

Sorry Ann but it will have to happen if you die (unexplained)
So...make sure you have an entirely explained death?
Squeeze into the lions enclosure/go surfing in Winter/fall off
The top of Blackpool Tower/etc.

You won’t actually be there, so don’t worry, or as Woody Allen says ‘I’m not afraid of death....I just don’t want to be there when it happens’.

I will have to just grin and “bare it” then. ?

Ilovecheese is spot on.
I don`t like the idea of one either but I won`t feel a thing.

Sorry ann but you will have no choice if your death is unexplained. No point wasting money on a solicitor because he will be overruled also.

I just don’t like the thought of being cut open and then all my organs stuffed into plastic bags, stuffed back in and then sewn up.
It seems so undignified.
I know it is not “me” I have left that body but even so I really don’t want it.

I think they have to perform one if there is no obvious cause of death i.e. you've been in relatively good health. If you were in the process of being treated for something that was life threating then they wouldn't need to. I think it depends whether a doctor is able to say with certainty what you died of. My son was FSID and they did a post mortem on him but an elderly relative died when she was 104 and they didn't do one on her.

Can I ask why you don't want a post mortem?

Not particularly in the case of the elderly but yes, mandatory for an unexplained death.
I don't think that anyone can refuse, because the cause of death must be established.