Significance of person notifying death -- COMPLETED; MANY THANKS!

[CelticAnnie]

Hello

A relative, who died in 1935 in (to judge from street address given) St Stephen's Hospital, Fulham, had his death notified to the Registrar by a Resident Physician rather than by (as I thought was usual) a family member.  Can I infer from this that the hospital were not aware of any family members to inform of the death and that the man died without his family knowing about it?  (Rather sad, if so; as he certainly had relatives living not too far from there at the time).

Many thanks.

CELTICANNIE

[Lady Di]

From the death certs I've seen (for people who died in hospital) the informant has always been a Medical Practioner or member of the hospital staff.

It doesn't mean that his family were unaware of his passing or weren't informed of his death.

[CelticAnnie]

Thanks, Lady Di!  Must confess, I haven't myself seen many death certificates -- and particularly not for hospital deaths.  So that's cheered me up a bit then!   Wouldn't want to think of him dying alone -- he seems to have had a bit of a sad life, on the whole.

CELTICANNIE

[groom]

From the death certs I've seen (for people who died in hospital) the informant has always been a Medical Practioner or member of the hospital staff.

This isn't always the case, I have several where the place of death is a hospital but the person who registered the death was a relative eg my grandmother registered her 2 year old's death, the child died in Great Ormond Street Hospital. My great uncle registered the death of his mother although she died in hospital 

[stanmapstone]

 The death is registered by an informant, who is the person who 'informs' the Registrar when registering a death, and is described as such in the relevant Registration Acts. The 1874 Act, section 11, states that where a person dies in a place which is not a house, e.g.  a hospital, it shall be the duty of every relative of the deceased person, and in default of such relative, of every person present at the death to give to the registrar within five days the particulars required to be registered concerning the death. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1874/pdf/ukpga_18740088_en.pdf

Stan