Skip to content
Biohazard and crime scene cleanup referrals, Manchester areaPhone answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Biohazard CleanupManchester, NH
Call (603) 555-0105

A step-by-step guide for New Hampshire

After a death at home: what happens next

If you have just found someone, you don't need to know all of this now. Call 911. The rest can wait until you are ready.

Call (603) 555-0105Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
A woman in a wool sweater talking on a phone at a kitchen table, snow outside the window
Illustration, not a real job or address.

In order

  1. Call 911

    Even if it is clear the person has died. The dispatcher will tell you what to do while you wait.

  2. Police arrive

    Officers check the scene. If the death was expected, for example under hospice care, it can be simpler; tell them.

  3. The medical examiner, if needed

    New Hampshire uses one statewide office, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, for deaths that are sudden, unexpected or unnatural. Its investigators come to the scene. Not every death has to be reported to it; the police or the hospice nurse will know whether this one does.

  4. The person is taken into care

    A funeral home takes the person. If an autopsy is needed, it is done at the state's facility at Concord Hospital, and release to the funeral home usually follows within 24 to 48 hours of arrival there.

  5. The home is released

    When the police and the medical examiner are finished, the home is yours again. Ask the officers to confirm.

  6. Cleanup, when you are ready

    If there is blood, fluids or odor, an independent cleanup company can handle it. Call (603) 555-0105.

Numbers that help

Manchester Police

Non-emergency (603) 668-8711 for a report number or a release question.

Official page

State medical examiner

(603) 271-1235 for questions about the person who died, an autopsy or the report.

Official page

211 New Hampshire

Dial 2-1-1 for local support services.

Later in the week

The funeral director usually orders death certificates for you. Copies are also available from any town or city clerk in New Hampshire.

If an autopsy was done, a first verbal report goes to the next of kin by phone. The written report can take several weeks to a few months, and there is no charge for it.

If it happened today

  1. Call 911 first. If someone is hurt, or you have found someone who has died, call 911 before anything else.
  2. Leave the room as it is. Police and the medical examiner's investigator may need to see it. Close the door and keep people and pets out.
  3. Wait for the release. Cleanup starts only after the police, and the medical examiner if involved, say the home or car is released.
  4. Then call. Call (603) 555-0105 when you are ready. Nobody will rush you.

Guides

When you are ready, call

An independent cleanup company that works in the Manchester area. You decide whether to hire them.

Call (603) 555-010524 hours a day, 7 days a week
Call (603) 555-0105