Not morbid at all. I would say call the police department and just ask them what to do. In most cases an unattended death of an elderly person has to be examined by the coroner's office just to make sure there was no skullduggery involved.

If you have hospice they will guide you. Often they are considered an attending physician and will handle things for you. If not then call 911 and your mom's doctor. I would also speak to mom's doctor. In some places an autopsy may be required for an unattended death but if your doctor is aware of mom's condition they may be able to intervene.

Another thought is to look into funeral arrangements. If you can get out or even make a few calls it will give you some ideas of where you want to go. Often funeral directors can help with home deaths as well.

Better to be prepared than be taken advantage of when the time comes. As they say the only thing certain in life is death and taxes.

I called the Dr. and then the funeral home.

We've had this happen to us. Call the local police department. They will handle the coroner's office. Once the coroner's office releases the body, you can have her transferred to the funeral home. Trojan is right, depending on the state you live in; if a person dies in the home, the coroner's office has to do their investigation prior to releasing to the funeral home.

Am I a little late here. Did your mother pass away?

If so, I'm so sorry for your loss.

If mom is on hospice at home no 911 call is needed except to hospice that will come to the house and confirm the death then it's just a matter of a phone call to the funeral home who will come and pick up the body! Best to have hospice in place if you know time is running out! If she passes without hospice then it's 911 and be ready for all the other intrusions coroner police ect!!

Yet another good reason to get hospice on board when the end is near!

Saves a TON of intrusiveness.

Not sure if it would save you from the coroner 100% of thte time but would imagine it usually does

Thanks guys for all the advice ,I guess the consensus is to notify police ,I dread the day ...

hospice kicked my mom out ,not dying fast enough.lol.i at it alone now.no 911 here for mom she does not want it an the[ will] says so.i keep in touch with funeral home,he's friend of family

A bit of an old post but you are new, so ok! My dad passed on Thanksgiving day under Hospice care. The coroner's office gives the hospice nurse permission to pronounce death.

Funny you mention she is not dying fast enough! LOL!

Hospice reevaluates every 6 months. Many go on and off more than once

My mother has everything arranged. I think she told me to call an ambulance and let them take it from there. I should really pay more attention sometimes! It's just so upsetting to me that I don't like to think about it.

They don't really do autopsies on 95+ year olds, do they?! We're Jewish and it's not allowed.

If you are concerned about an autopsy then talking to your Rabi about this should help you make sure that you have all the documents in place to prevent it.

They do if they think something looks fishy.

Thanks Pep I'll contact the funeral home. I never thought of this stuff before.

My mother tries to tell me things, but I don't want to hear it.

my step father died and the police were called, and they talked about autopsy and coroners. I took out his card he carried with his medical history in his wallet...showed them the bipasses and stents etc...and they called the coroner and said NEVER MIND...so we avoided that. and we belong to the neptune society, and we called them and one of their participating members came and took him away, cremated and distributed his remains. It was all set up ahead of time and easy.