Answer: The decedent is transported to the coroner division in San Bernardino or, under certain conditions, directly to a mortuary/funeral home of your choice.

Answer: No. We do not allow visitation at the Coroner. We do not have a viewing facility or a place for families to see the body.

Answer: Contact a mortuary/funeral home of your choice to make arrangements for your loved one to be transported from the coroner division. The mortuary/funeral home will go over further arrangements that the family must choose.

Answer: Yes. You may call (909) 387-2978 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. After business hours, you may call the same number and will reach a dispatcher. You can ask to speak to a Coroner Investigator for urgent matters after hours.

Answer: Not always. If the death is a “natural death” and the decedent has a physician who has been treating or prescribing medication to the deceased for a known medical condition, and will provide the coroner division with an acceptable cause of death, the coroner division will normally not perform an autopsy.

Answer: No. Embalming is a service performed at a mortuary and chosen by the family to preserve the body for viewing.  The coroner division does not embalm decedents transported to the Coroner’s division.

Answer: The California Department of Public Health created a web based system for death certificates called the Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS). This system has been online for more than ten years now. The system recently changed its name from EDRS to IVRS (Integrated Vital Records System). Death certificates are entered by the County where the person died; for example if the decedent died in Long Beach, the death certificate would be filed in Los Angeles County.

The death certificate record in EDRS is created by the mortuary/funeral home that is providing the services for the decedent. Once the mortuary completes demographic information, they must “flag” the record as needing input from the decedent’s doctor or the coroner. Once the cause of death is entered, the record is again, “flagged” for the mortuary to submit to the public health department, where it is reviewed for correctness before being given a local record number. If the information provided is incomplete or incorrect, the record is sent back to the mortuary to fix. After the local record number is given, the mortuary can apply for the burial or cremation permit. While this process usually happens quickly, there are occasions where obtaining the cause of death can have delays. Challenges can occur when the information provided in the record is declined by the coroner, public health department or there is an observed holiday and offices are closed.

There are three ways that a death certificate gets signed and attested:

1. The primary treating doctor of the decedent provides the cause of death and then attests that cause or causes of death in EDRS.
2. A Coroner’s forensic pathologist reviews the circumstances of the death and either performs an autopsy or reviews medical records and provides the cause of death. Coroner personnel then enters the cause of death into EDRS.
3. The primary treating doctor reviews the circumstances of death and refuses to provide the cause of death. In those cases, the coroner division attempts to determine if the primary doctor should be compelled to provide the cause of death and attest the death certificate, or if the coroner’s forensic pathologist will attest the death certificate on behalf of the primary treating doctor.

Answer: There is no charge for an autopsy when the case falls within the coroner’s jurisdiction.  In cases where the coroner division would not conduct an autopsy, the LEGAL next-of-kin may request a private autopsy to be performed.  The charge for a private autopsy is $2,882.00.  Payable by cashiers check or money order.

Answer: Yes. Government Code Section 27472 authorizes the coroner division to assess a transportation fee. The Board of Supervisors approved the fee of $283.00 for transportation of the deceased.

Answer: The coroner division will complete the investigation as soon as possible and release the decedent to a mortuary/funeral home of the family’s choice. Mortuary/funeral home staff will work closely with the coroner division and the family and will assist the family in determining a time and date for the funeral or whatever the final arrangements may be.

Answer: The following is a list of the deaths the Coroner Division is required by law to investigate by CA state law:

1. Unattended deaths. (No physician in attendance or during the continued absence of the attending physician.
2. Wherein the deceased has not been attended by a physician in the 20 days prior to death.
3. Physician unable to state the cause of death. (Unwillingness does not apply).
4. Known or suspected homicide.
5. Known or suspected suicide.
6. Involving any criminal action or suspicion of criminal act.
7. Related to or following known or suspected self-induced or criminal abortion.
8. Associated with a known or alleged rape or crime against nature.
9. Following an accident or injury (primary or contributory). Deaths unknown or suspected which resulted in whole or in part from a related accident or injury, either old or recent.
10. Drowning, fire, hanging, gunshot, stabbing, cutting, starvation, exposure, acute alcoholism, drug addiction, strangulation or aspiration.
11. Poisoning. (Food, chemical, drug, therapeutic agents).
12. Occupational diseases or occupational hazards.
13. Known or suspected contagious disease and constituting a public hazard.
14. All deaths in operating rooms and all deaths where a patient has not fully recovered from an anesthetic, whether in surgery, recovery room or elsewhere.
15. In prison or while under sentence.
16. All deaths of unidentified persons.
17. Suspected sudden infant death syndrome.
18. All deaths of state hospital patients.