Certifying death

[Bergerie1]

If a passenger dies on board a British registered aircraft, say over the ocean a long way from anywhere while it is on its way to London, can a doctor who happens to be one of the passengers certify the death, or must this wait until arrival in London? Suppose it was a heart attack and the individual, even to the untrained eye, is obviously dead, is it acceptable for the captain to rely on a written note from a doctor whose credentials he was able to verify? What does the UK law have to say?

[Repos]

I'm not sure of the specifics of air travel but normally a Doctor can only certify death if they have treated them in the last 14 days. They can certify 'life extinct' but nothing about the actual cause or issue a death certificate.
(Excuse me if this is out of date but I think the princple is still the same.)

[obgraham]

Death certification is different depending on the country.

Which presumably has little to do with a doctor on a flight advising the pilot so that appropriate action can be taken.

[anxiao]

Again my information may be 8 years out of date. We operated on the basis as Obs above has suggested, that each country has its own procedures, so we would not ask anyone to "certify" death until the destination. This was done on one occasion I remember by the airport doctor on arrival which then put the death in that country.

Pehaps this was why our body bags only go up to the neck, as no one had called the death.

[Radgirl]

A doctor and indeed many other healthcare workers can pronounce life extinct. ie the patient has died. The doctor should make a written record of it with the time etc.

What then happens depends upon where the death occurred. If it occurred in the UK the doctor can write a death certificate if he has enough knowledge to be certain of causation, if there is no foul play and certain other issues have not arisen such as an operation within the immediate past. Otherwise he has to inform the coroner. In practice if the death occurred in hospital or at home we speak to the coroner's officer, often a retired policeman, and he then agrees or otherwise that we can sign the death certificate. If not then the body goes to the coroner for post mortem and he signs the death certificate with or without an inquest

Where a death is sudden or unexpected or outside the home eg in an aircraft then it is highly unlikely the doctor has the necessary information to inform the coroner so the body would be collected and taken to a mortuary who would then inform the coroner

Theoretically the aircraft's registration determines its territory but in practice the authorities at landing tend to handle it unless the body has diplomatic or political immunity, and then every country has its own rules.