What to Do After an Unattended Death in Indiana

If you have just found someone, stop reading and call 911. This page will still be here afterwards, and nothing in it is more urgent than that call.

What follows is for the hours and days after, when the immediate emergency has passed and a family is left standing in a property that cannot simply be cleaned up.

1. The authorities come first

Law enforcement and the county coroner will attend and will determine cause and manner of death. In Indiana the coroner has jurisdiction over the scene until they release it. Nothing should be cleaned, moved or thrown away until that happens, doing so can interfere with an investigation, and it exposes you to contamination for no reason.

2. Understand why the property is a biohazard

After a death that was not discovered immediately, decomposition releases fluids and bacteria that penetrate flooring, sub-floor, drywall and sometimes framing. The affected area is almost always larger than what is visible. Odor molecules travel through the HVAC system into rooms nobody entered.

This is a bloodborne pathogen environment. Household cleaners do not neutralize it, the waste cannot lawfully go in your bin, and incomplete remediation becomes a disclosure problem when the property is sold.

3. Do not attempt it yourself

Families sometimes try, out of duty or out of a wish to keep it private. We would gently ask you not to. Beyond the health risk, the memory of doing that work in a loved one's home is not one you can put back.

4. Call a remediation company before you call a general cleaner

Ask any company you speak to whether they follow the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030, how they document disposal, and whether they use unmarked vehicles. A general cleaning company that says yes to a job like this without those answers is not the right call.

5. Insurance and cost

Homeowners policies frequently cover biohazard remediation following a death on the property. Tell your remediation company early if a claim is involved so the scope is documented the way an adjuster expects. If a crime was involved, Indiana's Violent Crime Victim Compensation Fund may also help with cleanup costs.

6. What we do when we arrive

We walk the property with you, or without you, if you would rather not be there. We identify everything affected, including what is under the floor and inside the ductwork, and we put the scope in writing before we touch anything. We look for and set aside anything that appears to be a keepsake, a document or a valuable, and we ask before disposing of anything we are unsure about.

We arrive in unmarked vehicles. Your neighbors will not learn anything from us.

Our line is answered 24 hours a day at (812) 447-8928. There is no charge to talk to us, and there is no obligation.