Replies to LegCo questions

LCQ3:Notification of death of persons and burials for them

Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (April 26):

Question:

I have recently received a request for assistance from a member of the public, who said that a member of his family had passed away without the relatives' knowledge, and the Government had subsequently buried the body in the Sandy Ridge Cemetery, Sha Tau Kok, without informing the deceased's relatives. It was not until six months later that the Police informed the relatives of this person's death. As the Cemetery is situated in the closed area, making it difficult for him to visit the grave of the deceased, he has requested the authorities to arrange for the burial of the deceased in another cemetery as soon as possible. However, under the existing government requirements, he has to go through complicated procedures and pay a high fee to make such a change. With limited financial means, he has not yet been able to claim the body and bury it in another cemetery. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) whether the authorities have measures to inform the persons' relatives when persons die; if so, of the details, and the reasons for burying the deceased without informing their relatives;

(b) whether the authorities will improve the measures mentioned in (a) above to ensure that the authorities will exhaust every means to inform the relatives of the deceased, and only when they cannot be contacted will the authorities bury the deceased; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(c) regarding the situation in which the authorities bury the deceased without informing their relatives, whether the authorities will consider simplifying the procedures for family members to claim the bodies of the deceased and bury them elsewhere, as well as exempting or reducing the relevant government fees and charges; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) If a person passes away in a place other than a hospital, the Police will make local enquires at the scene of the discovery of the body, which will be based on any items that may be found on or with the body, in the premises/at the location where the body was found, and with persons in the vicinity who may know or have knowledge of the deceased, to ascertain as far as possible the details surrounding the death and the contact details of the family members. Searches will also be made in the Police computer databases, if necessary, to see if he/she is wanted or has been reported missing. More detailed checks will be undertaken by the Police where the deceased remains unidentified, the death is suspicious, or the Coroner directs that a full investigation be conducted.

Meanwhile, an autopsy will be performed on the deceased by a Government Forensic Pathologist to determine the cause of death. The unclaimed body will be retained in the Mortuary concerned for one month after the autopsy. Where the Coroner has directed a death investigation be conducted, and should it be necessary to require the body to be kept intact for this purpose, or any related criminal investigation, the Police may request the Mortuary to extend the retention of the dead body.

In case the family members of the deceased are located and notified of the death before the expiry of the one month period or any requested extension for investigation into the death, arrangements may be made for the identification and disposal of the body, if the body is no longer required for the purposes of any police investigation. If the body is still unclaimed after the period, the Mortuary will inform the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) to remove the dead body for burial.

After receiving notification from the mortuary requesting the removal of unclaimed dead bodies, the staff of FEHD will remove them from the mortuary concerned and arrange for their disposal.

(b) The Police make every endeavour to locate the family members of the deceased as soon as possible after the discovery of the body. Generally, the work to collect the necessary information for the identification of the dead, such as recording the fingerprints and DNA sampling, will be completed within the first few days.

The procedures for disposal of unclaimed dead bodies in a public mortuary are aimed at balancing the need for time to investigate into the death and to locate and inform the family members, the storage capacity of public mortuaries and the need to dispose of the dead body within a reasonable time. It also allows for the extension of retention of the dead body in the Mortuary where necessary. The body will start decomposing during storage in the Mortuary. After a month, the decomposition will have reached an extent that would make facial identification very difficult. It would then become appropriate to dispose of the body as soon as possible or else the mortuary will be faced with hygiene problems. The Administration considers that the above arrangement is reasonable.

Nonetheless, the Government will consider reviewing the procedures for the handling of unclaimed dead bodies. In particular, the Police will examine ways by which they may enhance the process of identifying and locating any family members, to enable as early a notification to be given as possible.

(c) Any person who wishes to claim back the remains of an unclaimed dead body already disposed of by the FEHD can make an application to the FEHD. The existing procedure for such application is already very simple. If the applicant can provide documentary proof of his/her relationship with the deceased, he or she will be able to claim back the remains of the dead upon payment to FEHD the fees involved in the previous removal and disposal of the dead body.

There is no mechanism in place for FEHD to waive or reduce the above fee. However, if the family members of the deceased have financial difficulties, they can approach the Social Welfare Department (SWD) for assistance. The SWD will consider each case on its own merits.

Thank you Madam President.


Ends/Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:23

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