How long does it usually take for the coroner to pick up a body?

The family may have requested a delay for other family members to arrive first.

When my mom died, the funeral parlor was waiting because my sister wanted to come over first, so she had to get there. There was probably six hours between my mom dying and the funeral parlor coming to take her body.

I witnessed a suicide at a concert. Emergency responders were there within five minutes, but the coroner’s office did not arrive while we witnesses were still giving our statements to the Sheriff’s Deputies. The body lay covered on the stage for at least two hours.

There is no urgency for the coroner to pick up a body.

My father passed a few years ago mere hours after he was returned to us from the hospital for hospice care. We hadn’t even gotten the hospice nurse out yet. It was pretty clear that the hospital knew he was near the end and wanted the family to be able to see him one last time (we hadn’t been allowed to see him for weeks b/c this was during peak covid panic, and hospitals wouldn’t allow any visitors even though Dad wasn’t capable of communicating by that point).

Anyway, he passed, and the EMT arrived within maybe 10 minutes, the police shortly after, and IIRC, they took the body within an hour or so after. He wasn’t there super long. But I would guess that this varies alot by activity, time of day, location…we were in the suburbs on a Sunday evening. Probably low activity.

I’m sure it also varies by cause of death.

@zenvelo Dude! How awful!

I think 5 hours is in their window of acceptable collection time.
I would imagine there could be factors causing the seeming lateness.

Consider as well that the coroner has other bodies to pick up in the course of a day. It can’t take too long or the body will begin to bloat.

It took several hours for the EMT to remove my grandmother-in-law.

When my cousin’s mother-in-law died, she lay on the sofa for five hours before the coroner came.

I have no idea about the average. But my mother died about 7AM and the funeral director picked her up about 11AM. Her end was expected (91 years old) and we made arrangements with the funeral home long before.

The few hours were a blessing. She was in assisted living near my home. I drove over and was able to spend a couple of hours with her and her caregivers. I helped carry her out, giving me a last moment to help Mom in her old age.

@Call_Me_Jay, that was very touching. Thank you for sharing it.

Thank you for sharing all of your stories. I’m glad many of you had more time with loved ones. While other stories were really sad to read.

What prompted my question was that an employee of a local community college died in the mens locker room. And the body laid there on the floor for over five hours.

I didn’t know if this was standard protocol. Or if perhaps this was protocol for a possible crime scene if cause of death was not immediately determined. Either way, it didn’t feel right. And made me deeply sad.

{{{ HUGS }}} @raum

@Tropical_Willie I hope he had family that missed him and celebrated memories of his life.