My wife and I (I'm 81, she 77) plan to be cremated and forego funerals. If one dies at home, where should the survivor's first call go?

You may want to check with your Township how this works.

If on Hospice, the Nurse comes and pronounces. They then call the Funeral Home.

My GF died in her sleep. 911 was called. The police responded but had to wait for the Coroners findings. Coroner found no fowl play so the Funeral home was called. Now my ex, he was found dead and the Coroner did an autopsy. Same Township. I think that was done because person who found him didn't know his medical history. If he had, he would have known that ex had CHF and probably died of a heart attack. There is something about being under a doctors care.

I have never heard of calling your doctor and having him or one of his employees pronounce death. But our Community has Visiting Nurses who can be called in to do this and have.

We had hospice,, we just called the nurse ( who was already on her way for her daily visit) and she did the rest.. even called the funeral home we were having the cremation at . Our cremation here in MD was about 4000 with copies of death certs, urn and the rest. I know there are cheaper places, but we went with a local FH we know, and who did dads cremation. This was actually a worry of mine, who to call? I had heard horror stories of medical examinors, police, ambus. delay of getting Mom taken care of. you name it. with hospice it was very calm and peaceful, just as Mom and I wanted

Calling the Doctor involved in the care of the senior is also appropriate. Emergency personnel, police, ambulances currently in many areas are not responding to deathes. The death must be pronounced. The doctor will send someone to pronounce the death. A death at home, not under Hospice, gets often passed past the coroner's office. You can place a call to your coroner for information. They usually refuse cases and then you will be allowed to call the funeral place that handles the simple cremation without services. Even with this expect to pay between 1,500 and 2,500 with your death certificates included, simple spreading of ashes at sea if you do not wish to receive them yourself. This was my brother's wish also, and will be/is my stated wish.

If hospice is not involved you will call the non emergency police number. They will send the necessary support.

Make sure and have a crematorium picked out and have the number handy, you will provide this information to the emergency responders.