Guidelines for management of death cases at medical establishments under the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023

Guidelines for management of death cases at medical establishments in Vietnam under the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 (Internet image) 

Regarding this matter, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Guidelines for management of death cases at medical establishments in Vietnam under the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023

According to Article 73 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023, regulations on management of death cases in Vietnam are as follows:

- Management of death cases prior to arrival at a medical establishment shall be subject to the following regulations:

+ If the receiving medical establishment manages to find the dead patient’s identification documents and successfully contacts his/her family, they shall inform his/her family of the death and request them to come to claim the dead body;

+ If the receiving medical establishment finds out the dead patient’s identification documents; or finds out the dead patient’s identification documents, and fails to contact his/her family, in either case, they shall issue a notification of the dead patient to the commune-level People’s Committee of the locality where that medical establishment is located within 24 hours from the time of receipt of the dead body.

The commune-level People's Committee of the locality where the receiving medical establishment is located shall receive and bury the dead body within a maximum of 48 hours after receipt of the aforesaid notification.

- A medical establishment shall manage a death case according to the following regulations:

+ That medical establishment shall have the duty to issue a death notice; conduct a death review meeting; complete and deposit the patient's medical record; take and store any specimen of the dead body needed for later identification of the patient's identities as specified in point b of clause 1 of Article 73 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023; notify the patient's family in order for them to prepare for burial activities;

+ That medical establishment shall have the duty to notify the commune-level People's Committee of the locality where the medical establishment is located within 24 hours from the time of the death of the patient if the patient's dead body is left unclaimed or denied.

The commune-level People's Committee of the locality where the receiving medical establishment is located shall receive and bury the dead body within a maximum of 48 hours after receiving the notification specified in point b of Clause 2 of Article 73 of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023.

2. Guidelines for handling heceased patients who are foreigners without families in Vietnam

According to Article 95 of Decree 96/2023/ND-CP, regulations on handling heceased patients who are foreigners without families in Vietnam are as follows:

- Persons who meet the professional requirements of a clinical trial of new technique or method, medical equipment in use in medical examination and treatment activities (hereinafter referred to as clinical trials) and voluntarily participate in clinical trials.

- In order to participate in a clinical trial, the participant who is a person who loses his/her capacity to perform civil acts, has impaired cognition or difficulties in behavior control or limited capacity to perform civil acts; the minor patient shall be required to seek the consent from his/her representative or guardian under civil law.

- If the participant in a clinical trial is the one specified in clause 2 of this Article above; a pregnant or lactating woman, the research profile shall need to clarify reasons for recruitment and proper actions for protection of the participant, unborn babies or the infants who are being breast-fed by the mother participating in the clinical trial.

To Quoc Trinh

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