Step by step
- 1
Call 911
Say what you have found and where. In San Jose, (408) 277-8911 also reaches the police emergency desk.
- 2
Police and paramedics arrive
They confirm the death and look at what happened. Touch as little as you can and stay out of the room. Tell them about medications, recent illness and the person's doctor.
- 3
The Medical Examiner-Coroner may be called
When a death needs investigating, police bring in the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office, which takes the person into its care and works out the cause. Not every case needs an autopsy; the office decides.
- 4
You choose a funeral home
The office releases the person to the funeral home or cremation service you pick. The funeral home sends the office a release form for you, by fax or email, and can collect belongings the office is holding with a second form.
- 5
The home is released
Before the officers leave, ask plainly: is the home released, and may it be cleaned? If the answer is not yet, ask who will tell you and when. Write down the report number and the investigator's name.
- 6
Then the room
Neither the police nor the Medical Examiner-Coroner cleans the home. That is left to the family, the owner or the landlord. Keep the door shut and phone a cleanup company when you are ready. It does not have to be the same day.
The offices involved
- Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office
Establishes the cause and manner of death and holds the person until a funeral home is named. An autopsy report, where there is one, can take three to six months. Funeral arrangements and cleaning do not wait for it.
850 Thornton Way, San Jose · (408) 793-1900 · office hours generally 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday · mec.santaclaracounty.gov
- San Jose Police Department
Responds to deaths inside the city and says when the home is released.
Non-emergency 408-277-8900
- Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Does the same in the unincorporated parts of the county and in Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Altos Hills.
Non-emergency dispatch (408) 299-2311, 24 hours
Two things people ask
Who cleans up after the coroner leaves?
The family, the property owner or the landlord arranges it. The Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office and the police investigate; cleaning the home is not part of their work.
How long before the home is released?
It varies with what happened. After a natural death it may be as soon as the person has been taken into care. Where a crime is suspected it can take longer. Only the officers or the investigator can tell you.