INFORMATION FOR RELATIVES OF BRITISH NATIONALS
WHO HAVE DIED IN PERU
We recommend that you first read the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Guide for Bereaved Families available on
March 2017
INDEX
Standard Procedures
- Repatriation
- Local Burial
- Local Cremation
- Inquests
- Post-mortem
Release of Information and Consular Confidentiality
- Victims of Crime
Police report
Legal Aid
Consular Death Registration
Personal Effects
FCO Contact
Annex A: Information on Post-mortem and removal of organs
Local Funeral Parlours
List of Lawyers
List of translators and Interpreters
DEATHS INVOLVING BRITISH NATIONALS IN PERU
The death of a relative or friend is always distressing. But if it happens abroad the distress can be made worse by practical problems. Consular Directorate in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and our Consular Section in Lima are ready to help in any way that they can. You may be uncertain what to do next or who to contact for advice. These notes are designed to help you through the practical arrangements you will need to make.
You should be aware that Peruvian procedures differ significantly to those in the United Kingdom. While we understand your need to make arrangements as quickly as possible, this may not always be possible.
Standard Procedures
Following the death of a British national in Peru the next of kin or a formally appointed representative must decide whether to repatriate the deceased to the UK or to have a local burial or cremation. Consular staff in London will pass on to the Consular Section in Lima the wishes of the next of kin. We will do our best to ensure these are carried out.
Under Peruvian law yur friend or relative must be buried within 36 hours. However, in the case of foreign nationals the authorities will normally allow as much time as necessary. This is usually no longer than 6 days. This allowance may be restricted due to lack of mortuary facilities. We therefore recommend that you appoint a funeral director through an international undertaker as soon as possible.
If your friend or relative was covered by travel insurance it is important for the next of kin to contact the insurance company without delay. If there is no insurance cover the cost of any repatriation or burial will need to be met by the family. Neither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office nor our Consular Section in Lima has a budget to meet these costs.
If your friend or relative was travelling with a tour operator, they can be a valuable source of assistance and advice.
- Repatriation
If your friend or relative was covered by travel insurance, the insurance company will normally appoint an international funeral director to arrange repatriation through a local undertaker. The international funeral director liaises with local undertakers to ensure that all necessary requirements are met in Peru. If your friend or relative is not covered by insurance, the next of kin will need to appoint an international funeral director/local undertaker themselves. A list of local undertakers is available on . For information on international funeral directors, please contact the FCO.
When your friend or relative is being repatriated, they must be embalmed and placed in a special coffin. Local undertakers in Lima are equipped to carry out these procedures. A local civil registry death certificate, plus the doctor’s death certificate (indicating cause of death), a certificate of embalming, and a certificate giving permission to transfer the remains to the UK is required to ship the body. This will be arranged by the local undertaker. The local undertaker can also provide covering certificates for British Customs.
In certain circumstances repatriation may not always be possible. Our consular staff will try to inform next of kin as soon as possible if this is the case.
- Local burial
If next of kin choose to proceed with a local burial, they will need to instruct a local undertaker. The Consular Section can assist with practical arrangements.
- Local cremation
If the next of kin chooses local cremation and wishes to repatriate the ashes to the UK they should appoint an international funeral director / local undertaker. They will be able to arrange the necessary paperwork and transportation. If there is an ongoing investigation about the circumstances of the death, the cremation may not be allowed by the local authorities.
- Inquests
In the event of a death in Peru the Prosecutor will consider the evidence. If the circumstances of the death were not unusual, registration of the death is permitted and the body will be released for repatriation or burial to the mortuary. However, if the Prosecutor is not satisfied after the preliminary examination a post-mortem may be required. Further investigations and interviews with witnesses may also be requested before a decision is made as to cause of death.
In cases of accident or misadventure a report of the Prosecutor’s findings will be issued, and the body will be released. However if the death was caused by a criminal act the police will be ordered to conduct a full investigation. The Prosecutor will then decide whether to prosecute. This can delay the release of the body for burial/repatriation.
- Post-mortem
There is no requirement for authorities to seek permission from family to carry out a post mortem where the post mortem is compulsory by law, e.g: the cause of death was unknown or crime-related. Nor is permission required for the removal of tissue samples or organs. Please see Annex A for further information.
Release of information and consular confidentiality
Please be aware that the Peruvian press is not subject to legal restrictions governing the release of information regarding deaths in Peru. You should be aware that information and/or distressing pictures of your friend or relative may appear in local or international news.
The Embassy will not disclose details to the media until the next of kin is informed. Even then we will only give very limited information if asked.
- Victims of Crime
In Peru all medical centres must advise the local Police about the admittance of any national who has been victim of crime.
Legal and judicial procedures in the case of a suspicious death
- Police Report
In the case of the death of a British national investigated by the Peruvian authorities, the Police report must be available for the relatives and for the Embassy. The Public Ministry should inform the Embassy.
- No compensation from Peruvian State
If a British national has died due to an accident, murder or terrorist attack the Peruvian State will not compensate the relatives regardless of his/her nationality. However, the criminal judge in charge of the case could include in the sentence that the aggressor must pay a certain amount of money to the victim’s relatives regardless of the victim’s nationality.
- Legal Aid
British nationals without the available means to appoint legal representation can apply for legal aid overseas. The Legal Services Commission in London (Tel: 0845 345 4345 and is responsible for legal aid applications overseas.
The British Embassy cannot give legal advice to British nationals in Peru. However, we can provide them with a list of local private lawyers who speak English. Please see .
Consular Death Registration
The Peruvian authorities will issue a death certificate in Spanish. This is likely to take a couple of days.
There is no obligation for the death overseas of a British national to be registered. For further information please visit
Personal Effects
The Consular Section will not be able to store the belongings of the deceased British nationals at the Embassy’s premises.
FCO Contact
Consular Directorate – Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Global Casework Team – Tel: 020 7008 0169.
ANNEX A
INFORMATION SHEET ON POST MORTEM,
REMOVAL OF HUMAN ORGANS AND TISSUE
Circumstances under which Post Mortems are carried out:
Under Peruvian Law, post mortems are compulsory in the following circumstances:
- LEGAL: When the cause of death is related to a crime or is unknown; when a judicial authority entitled to do so orders a post mortem; in order to identify a dead body; when a body is to be cremated (to prevent the disappearance of any criminal evidence)
- REQUESTED: When your friend or relative or his family (once he/she has died) asks for one
- SANITARY: To establish the cause of death if it is suspected that there may be a threat to public health
- CLINICAL: To evaluate how accurate a diagnosis was and the quality of the patient’s treatment.
When Post Mortems are NOT Necessary
If your friend or relative dies in hospital while receiving medical treatment, or when the cause of death is clearly established, a post mortem is NOT required. When death results from a natural disaster (Peru is subject to earthquakes and El Nino causes flooding and landslides) or a car accident, a post mortem will not be performed unless requested by the family.
Authorisation to Carry out a Post Mortem
Only the post mortem for CLINICAL reasons requires previous authorisation from the patient while he is alive or from his family after his death.
Otherwise, no authorisation is required for a post mortem to be carried out, although a court order or statutory mandate is required. To confirm, family permission is NOT required when a post mortem is compulsory by Law (ie. in the cases stated above).
A family’s authorisation is required if a doctor decides he wants to perform a post mortem for reasons other than those where it is compulsory by Law, and the deceased did not express his consent or refusal to being subject to a post mortem when alive.
Post Mortem Procedures and Organ Extraction
Authorisation to Extract Organs as part of Post Mortem Procedure
When part of a standard post mortem procedure, permission from the family is not required to remove tissue sample or organs.
Replacement/Retaining of Extracted Organs
By Law and according to standard medical practice, removed organs and tissue must be replaced after the post mortem. By Law a doctor must treat the body with respect and recompose it as best s/he can, preventing unnecessary mutilations or dissections.
The health regulations do not consider any need to remove the organs and not replace them in the body. It is also not forensic practice to remove the organ fully, but only the necessary sample to carry out the analysis required by law.
Only those organs and tissues specifically extracted to be examined in detail as considered strictly necessary by the physician in obtaining certainty of death, will not be replaced. In this case, they will stay under the custody of the Central Morgue in specially conditioned jars and rooms in order to preserve them so they may be kept for records. Peruvian Law does not state how long they may be kept for.
If the relatives consider that the sample is significant and wish to have it back, this will have to be requested to the Central Morgue Directorate in liaison with the Prosecutor’s Office.
Organ Donation
When a Peruvian citizen reaches 18 years of age and must obtain his National Identification Document (DNI), he is asked whether or not he wants to be an organ donor, and this information appears on the document (DNI).
In the cases of people that die from an accident or sudden death and have not yet obtained their voting card, but are over 18 years of age, the law presumes they are willing to donate their organs, unless proved otherwise. This regulation is specific to emergency patients. Other patients must express their will to donate organs in an admittance form on arrival to the hospital. If yur friend or relative is incapable of doing this (if, for example, he is unconscious), his relatives may express it for him. If a relative is not present or contactable, it is presumed that he is willing to donate his organs.
As foreign nationals that die in Peru are subject to the same legal treatment as Peruvian nationals, if a foreigner suffers a sudden death, doctors are legally authorised to remove his organs for transplant purposes only, unless the deceased has a document stating that he does not wish to be an organ donor. Even if the assumption that the deceased did not have a document stating his refusal to donate is later proved to be wrong, relatives nonetheless have no legal rights.
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