Obligation to report death
17 Obligation to report death
A person must report a death that is or may be a reportable death to a coroner or a member of the Police Force immediately after he or she becomes aware of the death, unless the person has reasonable grounds to believe that the death has already been reported.
Penalty: $1 000.
A person to whom a death has been reported under subsection (1) must inform the State Coroner of the reported death immediately.
A doctor who is present at or soon after the death of a person must report the death immediately to a coroner if —
the death is or may be a reportable death; or
the doctor is unable to determine the cause of death; or
in the opinion of the doctor, the death has occurred under any suspicious circumstances.
Penalty: $1 000.
If more than one doctor is present at or soon after a death and one of them reports it to a coroner, the other doctors need not report the death but must give to the coroner investigating the death any information which may help the investigation.
The death of a person who, immediately before death, was a person held in care must be reported immediately to a coroner by the person under whose care the deceased was held.
Penalty: $1 000.
[Section 17 amended: No. 40 of 1998 s. 8(3).]
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