This is because there are some terminal events, such as an enormous heart attack or clot on the lung, where the bodily sensation is as if you want to defecate. Most people will die in bed, but of the group that don't, the majority will die sitting on the lavatory.
A forensic scientist can estimate the time of death by whether rigor mortis has come and gone. Rigor mortis is the stiffening of the body, which begins a few hours after death and then after a while starts to reverse. Those tests would be done before organ donation. Nowadays there are machine tests for brainstem death that involve connecting up the brain and looking at the activity. If you're not certain, you can rub on the breastbone, which is a very painful procedure: if they are not dead, they'll quickly jump up and say, "That hurt!" You examine for signs of breathing, you look at the pupils to check there is no response to a shining light. To certify that someone is dead, you listen to the heart for one minute and feel for a pulse for one minute. You can still have reflex actions, so you may twitch after death. If that bit of the brain is dead, then the person is essentially dead. The brainstem is the part of the brain where the body's vital functions are controlled - the breathing, the heart, the brain itself it is the computer room of the body. What I'm essentially looking for is brainstem activity. It's my job to say if somebody is dead, not how they died. The coroner may also request a postmortem if drugs or alcohol are suspected, or if there's any suggestion of a violent death.
If we haven't seen the patient in the two weeks before their death, or if they have died after being discharged from hospital, then we must report it to the coroner, who may request a postmortem. If we have had contact with a patient in the previous two weeks and know the cause of death - if someone has been terminally ill, say - we can sign the death certificate immediately. When you die, you have to have your death certified by a doctor and a death certificate or a cremation certificate issued.
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