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My brother age 46 died suddenly 7 years ago. He was a heavy smoker for many many years and had asthma as a child but outgrew it.( There is a history of hypertension in my family but if he was hypertensive he was not aware of it. My father died from a massive heart attack at age 52.)  My brother thought he had the flu. For two days he was very congested and SOB and could not lay down flat, mostly sat up in a chair. On the third day he was in an extremely weakened state and barely coherent. He collapsed in the bathroom and his wife called 911. He was taken to the ER just around the corner. They suctioned copious amounts of mucus. He died shortly thereafter. He lived 2 hours away from us and by the time we arrived everyone who had worked on him had gone off duty. His wife (his next of kin) is a strange person and couldn't tell us anymore about what happened.  (Pictures taken of him a few weeks before showed him looking "peaked"-pale and sickly looking.He had complained of being tired but was in the middle of moving from an apartment he had lived in for over 20 years) His wife  was adamant about not having an autopsy due to religious beliefs even though the rest of the family wanted one.   My question is: because of his rather young age and unexplained death, why wasn't an autopsy required? (I am reading a book about that now and it brought this question to mind). If every unexplained death requires an autopsy, why wasn't one done in his case?    I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone has on this.

StarlightRN-thanks for replying. However I am still confused. I live in Virginia. While working at a LTC facility, I know that any sudden unexplained death was to be notified to the police department and I believe (but not certain) that an autopsy was performed. My brother died in Va. Why then, wouldn't this call for an autopsy as well?

thanks derf- my brother unfortunately thought he had no insurance coverage so he delayed treatment. thinking he had the flu and would get better in a few days. We later found out this was not true. He did have insurance. He called no one during his illness to tell them of how bad he felt. I blame my sister-in-law. Had she called one of us about his condition we would have made sure he got treated.  I feel this didn't have to happen.

derf-thanks so much!!

I think StarlightRN has it right, but those circumstances, under Virginia law, don't seem to REQUIRE an autopsy, but only a ruling by the M.E.

The M.E. may decide not to do one. Haven't researched it too well, but that seems to be the case.

Yer welcome! And you can always call the specific M.E.s office (or even another one in the same State) - they'll probably answer questions about their policies and procedures, even if they won't discuss the individual case!

I hope that you and your family have been able to find some measure of comfort in your loss. Have you called the MEs office? There may have been an ME inquiry and a report that would indicate why an autopsy was not done. Most MEs I have dealt with have been caring and compassionate and willing to help someone find answers.

Take care

Walter

So sorry for your loss.  I believe that in Mass.  any death that occurs within 24 hours of admission has to be reported to the ME, and treated as a Sentinnel event, but I  believe that the family has the right to refuse autopsy unless the death was suspicious.  Try not to blame your SIL.  It's very difficult after such an unexpected loss not to want to blame someone.  Perhaps she would have felt that she might have been to blame if anything came back, that may have been too much for her to bear. 

When my Mom was sick she told me, made me promise actually, that I wouldn't tell anyone not even her sister.  She didn't want anyone to worry.  She felt that she would get better and I in my hope that she would, I promised.  After a few days in the hospital, when it was apparent that she might not make it, I did tell the family.  Luckily I had the benefit of time and knowlege.

God bless.