This leaflet answers common questions about having the medical examiner service. If you would like further information, or have any worries, please ask us.

Please accept our deepest condolences following the death of your relative or friend.

At the Royal Free London, we have a medical examiner service.

This service is found across the NHS with the aim of improving the accuracy and sensitivity of death certification and ensuring that bereaved families are kept at the centre of the process. By introducing this service, the NHS aims to provide a dedicated service for the bereaved and an opportunity for them to ask questions and raise any concerns around the care that their friend or relative received.

The service also intends to provide greater safeguards for the public by ensuring proper scrutiny of all deaths not referred to the coroner, ensure the appropriate referral of deaths to the coroner, improve the quality of death certification, and improve the quality of confidential storage and analysis of information relating to people who have died

Who is the medical examiner?

Medical examiners are senior doctors who have not been involved in the care of the person who died. Their role is to provide an independent review of the death. After they have completed the review, they will liaise with the doctor who was looking after the person who died to ensure the medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) clearly reflects the cause of death and is accurately completed.

The medical examiner will discuss the cause of death with the bereaved next-of-kin and will endeavour to answer any questions about the cause of death.

Medical examiners are supported by an administrative team called medical examiner's officers.

How this might affect you

Many patient deaths will be reviewed through the medical examiner service. If your friend or relative’s death is reviewed, you should expect:

  1. An initial telephone call from the bereavement service to inform you of the process and what to expect.
  2. A telephone call from the medical examiner, when the MCCD is ready to be released, to discuss the cause of death and endeavour to answer any questions.

Once you have spoken to the medical examiner and the MCCD is ready to be released, your care will be handed over to the bereavement service team who will then assist you through the next steps. You can find more information about the next steps in our leaflet advice for bereaved families during the pandemic and our bereavement support booklet when someone dies – a practical guide for family and friends.