Please read the following information in order to facilitate contact with our Forensic Medicine Department (FMD):
1. The Death Card (Karta Zgonu) issued by the FMD is necessary to obtain the Death Certificate (Akt Zgonu) issued at the Registry Office.
2. If it has been decided that the autopsy (post-mortem examination) will not be performed, the Death Card is issued by the hospital where the person died or, if not, by the Medical Emergency Station (in Warsaw: Izba przyjęć, ul. Poznańska 22).
3. The decision to conduct a post-mortem examination is made by the Prosecutor's Office dealing with the death of the given person.
4. The Prosecutor’s Office first sends a request for an autopsy to the FMD and only on this basis is the date of the post-mortem examination set. Information about whether the autopsy is scheduled for the next day (and only the next day) may be provided to the family by phoning the FMD Main Office after 2:00 p.m.
5. We do not show corpses to the family before the autopsy.
6. The collection of the Death Card is possible only after the post-mortem examination.
7. To obtain a Death Card it is necessary to present to the FMD Main Office:
- a personal identity document of the deceased person with PESEL number (if unable to obtain such a document, obtain a printout from the PESEL registry at the Police);
- permission from the Public Prosecutor's Office to collect the body.
8. Our FMD charges fees for storing bodies.
9. Collection of the body: Before the coffin is closed, the identity of the deceased must be confirmed by the closest relatives. The handing over of the body takes place on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Dressing of the bodies by families may take place at the same time. Dressing the body is not the responsibility of the morgue staff (Journal of Laws of the Ministry of Health, 1961, No. 13, item 89).
10. Clothes of the deceased not collected within three days from the date of the autopsy will be destroyed for sanitary reasons. If the clothing is secured by police officers, please contact the appropriate Police Station regarding its possible release. Note: in the event of clothing being contaminated with biological material (blood, secretions or excretions), for sanitary and epidemiological reasons, the clothing is not stored and must be immediately disposed of after an autopsy.
11. The corpse is admitted to the FMD after a police search and any valuables and documents are secured by the police officers acting on the scene.
12. Complaints and legal motions regarding the operation of the morgue should be submitted in writing to the FMD main office.