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Thanks for the reply Mark. I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I went through this with my mother some years ago and nodded along with a lot of what you have to say.

I agree with your humanity point.

There was a fascinating programme on Radio 4 a few weeks ago, in the 'We Need To Talk About Death' series. Joan Bakewell presents it. The episode I am thinking of had as a guest the chief coroner of EW, who responded to concerns raised by listeners about the the intrusion of officaldom in cases of sudden death. One example given
was of the daughter of a 94 year old woman (from memory) who died peacefully at home. The daughter felt rightly aggrieved that on the night of the death, the police would not allow her near the body unsupervised, and treated her almost as though she were under suspicion.

It was an interesting programme. It may still be in iPlayer.

The interplay between humanity and humane treatment of death and the bereaved on the one hand, and the safeguards and requirements of officialdom on the other, is fascinating. We're not there yet, and my fear is that there will always be a tension there.