The Medical Examiner

What is the role of a Medical Examiner?

A Medical Examiner (ME) is a senior medical doctor typically based in an acute hospital trust who provides independent scrutiny of causes of death and the care before death and facilitates feedback to bereaved people (except for when the death has been referred to a Coroner). ME’s have a right to access healthcare records and liaise with doctors to inform their scrutiny, to help ensure accuracy and to highlight any concerns about the care of the person who died prior to their death.

Why is a Medical Examiner involved?

The introduction of ME’s happened as a result of reforms to the death certification process introduced in 2024 in order to improve the quality and accuracy of the information provided on the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD), which is the document which provides a permanent legal record of the death and enables the bereaved to register a death and arrange a funeral.

How does the Medical Examiner process work?

The Attending Practitioner (typically a family GP or the medical practitioner who was most involved prior to the death occurring) will propose a cause of death and send the MCCD to the Medical Examiner who will scrutinise this along with any relevant medical records.

The Medical Examiner will liaise with and review the information provided by the Attending Practitioner, as well as referring to relevant medical records, as part of their scrutiny. Families or representatives of the person who has died can raise any concerns with the Medical Examiner.

Once the Medical Examiner is satisfied with the proposed MCCD, they will send it to the registrar and notify the family at the same time.

When can you register a death?

Deaths cannot be registered until the registrar receives notification of the cause of death from the Medical Examiner (or the coroner).

The Medical Examiner will notify the family that they have sent the MCCD to the registrar. This notification starts the 5-day statutory time frame to register a death.

Once you have registered the death, the registrar will produce a Death Certificate for you to purchase. The registrar will also issue a Certificate for Burial or Cremation also known as ‘the green form’ which they will normally email directly to your chosen funeral director.

What can you do if you have concerns about the cause of death?

You should liaise with the Medical Examiner in the first instance. If you have serious concerns about the cause of death and believe the case should be investigated by a coroner, you should contact the coroner’s office right away.

A coroner is an independent judicial office holder appointed by a local authority to investigate deaths that are unnatural, violent or if the cause was unknown, or due to an industrial disease. In such cases, the death should have already been referred to a coroner by a doctor or by the police.

However, if you are not sure whether this has happened, or if you are not sure whether coroner referral is required, you should discuss your concerns with the Medical Examiner, who can help obtain answers to any questions and advise on whether coroner referral is required.

Contact details for the Medical Examiner

The Medical Examiner will get in touch with you. The contact details for medical examiner offices for England and Wales can also be found here.

We are here to help

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the White Rose team on 020 3281 1045.