[Previous Page] [Next Page] [Table of Contents/Search]

Encountering death

Scenario: Tommy is a 25 year old living in a boarding house, a nice enough fellow whom you knew at school. You ran into him in a café one day and renewed your acquaintance with him. He doesn't look well. He tells you that he has been down on his luck. Unfortunately, he was 'rolled' recently, losing his social security cheque, and now can't pay his rent. He asks if you could lend him the money. You lend him fifty dollars and arrange to meet him tomorrow at his room for a coffee. You arrive the next day, knock and enter, and find him dead on his bed with a needle and syringe in his arm. His body is mottled, blue and stiff. The room is messy. There is a spoon and some powder in a foil packet on the table. What do you do?

Advice:

Examine the room, but move nothing. Say your farewells to Tommy, then notify the responsible boarding house staff and the police. Have a coffee while waiting. Chat to someone about it. Homeless persons die young and often tragically. Drug overdose, assault, murder, car accidents, haemorrhage and hypothermia are all common causes of death in the homeless. You are likely to come across a dead person sooner rather than later. The circumstances of the death are likely to affect you more than the discovery of the body itself, unless you knew the person well. In the latter case your emotions and previous relationship with the deceased will have a significant effect on how you react to the death.

With sudden or unexpected deaths, or deaths associated with suspicious circumstances, it is a legal requirement to contact the police. The police may contact the coroner, who will further investigate to determine the exact cause of death, and if necessary arrange for a public inquiry, known as an inquest, into the cause of death. If the death had been expected, the responsible care-person or care organisation should also be contacted. In this case, the attending doctor can complete the usual death certificate, and unless no one is prepared to accept responsibility for the body, the coroner is not involved.

If the homeless person has no known next of kin, the police will send the body to the coroner. If family still cannot be found to organise a funeral, and the homeless person died leaving no money, the police will arrange for the government undertaker to undertake a pauper's burial, which is paid for out of police revenue.