The Paperwork of Death – Cremation Forms 6-13

As promised, here is the second part of my cremation forms post and another in my series of the paperwork that is involved in death. While my first part covered the forms 1-5, there was quite a lot to talk about in terms of those forms and how they were established plus what is currently in place during the pandemic. For forms 6-13 there is less of an explanation needed but it is important to cover them and for people to have an awareness that they exist. They are as follows –

• Cremation 6 – Certificate of coroner
• Cremation 7 – Certificate following anatomical examination
• Cremation 8 – Certificate releasing body parts for cremation
• Cremation 9 – Certificate of stillbirth
• Cremation 10 – Authorisation of cremation of deceased person by medical referee
• Cremation 11 – Certificate after post-mortem examination
• Cremation 12 – Authorisation of cremation of body parts by medical referee
• Cremation 13 – Authorisation of cremation of stillborn child by medical referee

Cremation 6 is used by the coroners office and authorised by the Coroner. As I am typing this I am unsure if I have covered previously the role of the Coroner and what they do, let me know in the comments if this is something you would like to see in future. If a death is needed to be investigated by the Coroner then once this investigation is complete, or the Coroner is able to, they can complete this form which grants permission for the deceased to be cremated. This is also known as the E form by many funeral directors which I always thought meant the electronic form but actually is the former name when these cremation forms were identified by letters.

Cremation 7 is completed for the cremation of those who have donated their bodies to science and have undergone an anatomical study or examination of some sort. My friend Gina who works at Sheffield Medical Teaching unit has a great blog called Precious Gifts & Dissection Kits that I thoroughly recommend having a read of. Body donation can be a confusing process for people and if it is something that you may be interested in make sure you read up on it!

Cremation 8 is the form that is used to authorise cremation for any body parts (usually whole organs) that have been taken as part of an investigation confirming that the investigation is complete and they are no longer required. Cremation 9 is the form that is used to medically certify stillborn babies and can be completed by a doctor or midwife. Cremation 11 is the form that is used to authorise cremation of a deceased person after a post-mortem has taken place and outlines what was found at post-mortem. There is a stipulation in this form that toxicology has either already been taken or is not needed to know the cause of death which then allows for cremation.

The cremation forms 10, 12 and 13 are the actual forms that wholly authorise the cremation. The medical referee who completes these forms is someone who will have reviewed all of the paperwork and checked that the details on the forms are correct, match across all forms and indicate that the person requires no further investigation into how they died and can be cremated. This is important as once cremated there is obviously no way of examining that person, if a person is buried there is always the possibility they could be exhumed to be examined. These forms are often completed by someone who works at the crematorium and is trained in how to review the forms involved.

One final note I will make is that all the forms I have discussed in these two posts are particular to England and Wales only. Scotland have their own forms and guidance for them can be found here, Northern Ireland also have their own forms and guidance can be found here. It would be very interesting to see how other countries do this, if you know yours then please get in touch but I will also keep this in mind as a future research topic for another time.

MG x