I would not think that it should take this long. Consider asking for the supervisor and see if you can get answers that way. As tho losing him is not enough, you can't get answers and that is aggrivating.

I agree.......I would not think it should take this long. Definitely consider asking for a supervisor........and then the supervisor's supervisor............until you get some answers. Sylvia

Are you in NYC? In NYC, following an autopsy, the Medical Examiner issues an amended death certificate. If I am understanding what I am reading correctly, then you order the corrected death certificate with the medical records or without the medical records attached. As the spouse/partner you are entitled to that and can order it online. Here are links to what I found for NYC:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/ocme/html/services/autopsy.shtml

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/death-certificates.page

If you are elsewhere in New York state, it may be handled differently. I will see if I can find anything, or if Sharon's around, maybe she knows as she's in upstate.

It should not take 5 months. Sometimes a call to your local Congressman's office works -- they do help citizens with odd official problems, and I have heard of folks calling on them for delayed death certificates where the widow/widower can't file for their Social Security without it (a Federal benefit), or Veterans Admin benefits (also Fed).

In some places, calling city council, the Mayor's office, etc., can route you to someone who will deal with it.

Hope this helps..... Love and Hugs, Martha

P.S. - You might want to contact the funeral home that handled the services for advice. They may have information not readily available to the regular public. Hugs...

when i dealt with the the NY ME (suffolk cty) office they were able to give me a verbal report on the phone. and they were able to release a death certificate (with a pending toxicology memo). it did take 6-8 wks for toxicology to come back and my husband died in a car accident so i had the assigned detectives do some of the runaround for me. thinking about it i never did get a final report. I have a friend who was in the same scenario and persistence does pay off

I'm sorry you are waiting for this report for so long. I have no experience with this, but I do feel that I would be anxious and annoyed by waiting for some long. The suggestions you have been given seem reasonable. I hope you can get answers soon. Sharon

I'm in Ohio and the coroners report supposedly takes 12 weeks, I had to call the city commissioners office to get it expedited for a court hearing. Very frustrating. as if we haven't been through enough...

Thank you to all of you for the suggestions....I live in Ma. and they are in NY so it's been endless phone calls from me and his mom to them and I also sent them a written request as advised on the website about a month ago to the chief medical examiner....I have even reached out to channel solve it sevens Hank Ryan so hopefully I'll get something back...Thanks again

Chads took about 8 weeks maybe a bit more. He passed January 16 and we got the results in late March, we were waiting on toxicology though.

Hi Willowbreeze. I'm so sorry for your loss. This is my first post. My husband, Matthew, passed away suddenly a month ago and I'm still waiting for the final autopsy. I was told it might take between 6-8 weeks, definitely not 5 months. I agree that you might want to get your congressman/woman involved. It's horrendous that we would have to wait so long to get some kind of closure (at least with the cause of death.)

I wanted to thank you all for the suggestions.....I finally got my answers after sending a complaint e-mail to the chief medical examiner in NY. I was told he was unaware of how many times I had tried to contact him through phone calls, e-mails, and through the mail. The results were that Jimmy passed from an infection in his heart valves and heart disease with his heart being twice the size of a normal heart. As much as I fought to get those answers for 5 months....It suddenly made it all feel so much more real .... I was hit with the reality that he is actually gone and not coming back and it was like finding out that for the first time. I know that probably sounds crazy where he's been gone for 5 months but with not seeing the body and not having the answers of why he died it just made it all unreal.
It's like a fog lifted from the fantasy and I'm now left with the reality that he is truly dead.
It made for a very hard weekend and a lot of tears shed but I got up and made it through the moment and for most of us that is all we can really do...keep moving through the moments.
I wish you all peace and comfort in your journey...Take care and stay safe.

I'm late to this post but I'm in PA and I was told my husband's autopsy would take 12-20 weeks

Yes, it takes a long time. It took 6 months for me to get a final autopsy on my husband because they were waiting on his toxicology report which takes a long time. I also could not believe it and was upset about the whole situation but I was told that the toxicology report takes a while. Hope you get it soon.