What to Do After an Assisted Dying Death

The person you love has just died. The room is impossibly quiet, and the clinical countdown you survived for weeks has ended. What happens now is different from any other kind of death — and getting the sequence right in the next few hours protects your family from unnecessary trauma.

Do Not Call 911

This is the single most critical instruction. If the death happened at home under a MAID or VAD protocol, calling emergency services triggers a full police and paramedic response. Officers will treat the home as a potential crime scene. The body may be moved. You may be questioned.

Instead, call the palliative care nurse, the MAID/VAD clinician, or the hospice team who coordinated the provision. They will formally verify the death and complete the medical certification. In Canada, the prescribing or administering clinician must complete the death certificate — the underlying medical condition goes on the record, not the assisted dying provision itself.

If no clinician is immediately available, call the funeral director. They can guide you through the next steps while you wait for the medical team.

Secure Unused Medication Immediately

In self-administered cases (common in US states and parts of Australia), unused controlled substances are now in your custody. Timelines are strict:

• United States: Return unused medication to a registered DEA disposal facility or use an approved home deactivation kit. The prescribing physician can advise on local options.
• Canada: If a planned self-administered provision did not occur because the patient did not ingest the medication, the clinician must return unused substances to the dispensing pharmacy within 72 hours. After a completed provision, contact the prescribing clinician about any remaining medication.
• Australia (Victoria): The contact person must return unused VAD medication to the Statewide Pharmacy Service within 15 days. The VAD Review Board tracks compliance.

Do not flush medication. Do not put it in household waste. If you are unsure who to call about disposal, phone the prescribing physician's office first.

Care for the Body at Home

If the body will remain at home for a short vigil before the funeral director arrives:

• Lower the thermostat and turn off heating vents
• Gently close the eyes and mouth — rigor mortis begins within two to seven hours, so early positioning matters
• Place a rolled towel under the chin if the jaw has relaxed
• If you want to wash or dress the body, ask the clinical team or funeral director how to proceed.

Ask the clinical team or funeral director how long the body may remain at home under local rules. Many families find comfort in sitting with the person for several hours before the funeral director arrives.

Get the Death Certificate Right

In the US, Canada, and Australia, the law requires that the underlying terminal illness — not the assisted dying provision — appear as the cause of death. The word "suicide" is legally prohibited on MAID death certificates in every US state where the practice is legal.

Request ten to fifteen certified copies within the first week. You will need them for insurance claims, bank accounts, property transfers, and pension notifications. If the certifying physician has not completed the certificate, call their office to ask when it will be available.

What Can Wait

Not everything needs to happen today. Closing credit cards, starting probate, sorting personal belongings, and notifying distant social circles can often wait until immediate care and funeral arrangements are handled. Check any account, policy, or local probate deadlines before delaying those steps.

What cannot wait: medication disposal, notifying the clinical team, and securing the death certificate with correct cause-of-death wording.

The First Call You Should Make Tomorrow

Once the immediate clinical and logistical tasks are handled, assign roles. One person handles legal and estate matters. One person manages external communications. One person coordinates domestic logistics — food, travel, childcare for visiting relatives.

This division prevents the single-coordinator burnout that hits most families by day three. The After a Death by Euthanasia / Assisted Dying guide includes printable role-assignment worksheets and call scripts for every institution you will need to contact in the first month.