A couple of days after mom died, I called 1 the Law Offices of Michael Bard at (800) 516-2132 and spoke to a woman named Laurie, who answered the phone there.
She asked me to explain what sort of problem I was facing and I explained — quickly — the events of the last week. I began by telling her that my mother passed away on Sunday, and — when I was finished — the first thing she asked me was on what day my mother had died.
Laurie told me that I should call them when I had the “cause of death” from the death certificate. I told her (again) that the doctor was refusing to sign the death certificate because he doesn’t understand why my mother died. She responded by saying that we would learn that from the autopsy. I told her (again) that the medical examiner’s office is refusing to do an autopsy.
She said that it’s only been a few days, and they would have to “figure it out” soon enough and then I could call back when I knew the official cause of death.
The entire call lasted about five minutes.
1 Note that this website displays times as Pacific; this call occurred at 3:40 PM EDT.