Volume 16, Issue 17
16 - 31 May 2017
30 BAHT
What happens after death?
A
ccording to a survey conducted amongst expats in Thailand last year, ignorance and concerns about the procedures if someone close dies here loom large in the worries people have. The British foreign office last month issued an advisory circular advising next-of-kin on handling crime-related deaths in Thailand such as murder, manslaughter or suspicious circumstances. However, much of the circular also applies to non-criminal deaths.
There are no official statistics produced by the Thai government on farang deaths. Occasionally, embassies in Bangkok do shed some light and it appears, for example, that around 100 Australians die in Thailand annually and about 250 British nationals. The usual assumption is that approximately 1,000 nonThais of all nationalities die in the Kingdom every year. It may be that a growing percentage of this number is Chinese.
The overwhelming majority of the deaths are from natural causes and accidents. Because the average age of long-term expats appears to be rising, health problems present a growing challenge. It is very difficult for retirees in their 70s to obtain good-quality medical insurance at a price they can afford. As regards younger men and women, usually tourists, motorbike crashes and accidental drownings loom large. Only about five percent of all deaths of foreigners are
thought to be crime-related or suicides. Most people die at home or in a hospital or in a public place. A phone call to the police is virtually automatic and it is at police discretion whether to insist on an autopsy. All suspicious deaths will incur an autopsy usually conducted at the Police Hospital in Bangkok. If, however, a patient dies in a hospital which has a record of treatment and medicines, say Continued on page 4