Some circumstances require the registrar to report a death to the coroner before it can be registered. Examples of this include:
- where there is no doctor who can issue a medical certificate of cause of death
- where the person was not seen by the doctor issuing the certificate after he or she had died, or during the 14 days before the death
- where the cause of death is unknown
- where the cause of death is believed to be unnatural or suspicious
- where the death happened during an operation or before recovery from an anaesthetic
- where the death is due to industrial disease or industrial poisoning.
The coroner must then decide whether there should be further investigation into the death - and the registrar cannot register the death until the coroner notifies him / her of their decision.