American death in Vietnam

The US Embassy in Ha Noi is your best bet. They should definitely be open on Monday (remember we are 12 hours AHEAD of New York) and they will have all records pertaining to this persons death.

We are in the middle of the Tet Lunar New Year holiday when VietNam (and China) shut down for two weeks.

Like all good diplomats, they follow their host countries vacations although a few were open on Wednesday.

What is the Deceased' FULL LEGAL NAME and DATE OF BIRTH?

One thing is there are relatively few hospitals that service Foreigners, the other one is Ho Chi Minh is Cho Ray Hospital.

CHO RAY HOSPITAL
201 B Nguyen Chi Thanh St.
District 5
Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
Tel: (08) 855 4138 (08)856 3526
Fax: (08) 855 7267
E-mail: [email protected]

Cho Ray Hospital is the largest hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.
Again, the Administration offices will be closed until at least Monday.

Another complication that will slow things down is that the Deceased died on the beginning of Tet, therefore it is extremely unlikely that anything has happened with even the paper work - which is very slow on normal days.

Since all paper has to flow through the Embassy, that is the pinch point you will likely first get news.

Was the Deceased out here on his own or was he married to someone here? I will post your request on other chat rooms but most all of them have minimum traffic this week.

What was the Deceased business here? (Teaching, travel, etc.)

P.S. I have e-mailed you a list of hospitals in Ha Noi.

Have you contacted the Consulate Duty office at the link I provided yesterday?

Here's the infomation from that link:


"In Case of Emergency

If you are an American citizen with an afterhours emergency (such as illness, death, destitution or arrest), please call our hotline at: 090-392-4613 within Vietnam, or 011-84-90-392-4613 from the U.S. For Non-Emergency Issues please call 3520-4200 within Vietnam, or (+84)(8) 3520-4200 internationally Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m."

You got to start working with them to get this done. As a non-Vietnamese speaking person calling individual hospitals here in Vietnam your not going to accomplish anything. Except of course to get realy frustated. They won't have a clue to what your talking about, and more than likely just hang up.

Budman1 wrote:

Have you contacted the Consulate Duty office at the link I provided yesterday?

Cho Ray Hospital receptionists well as the French Vietnamese receptionists all multi-lingual.

If the Deceased died on the 21st there might not even have been a Record of Death issued before Tet. This has to be relayed to the Justice Ministry who issues the Death Certificate and then the  Ho Chi Minh City Foreign Relations Office (FRO).

Only the FRO deals with the consulates/Embassies so likely the whole thing awaits the return of VN government employees.

I went through this last year. They are very, very slow.

Thank you for all your help.  I made a mistake on where he died . He actually died in Phnom Penh Cambodia he had been living in Sihanoukville. I juat found that out. Thanks again for you help if you know anything about Cambodia hospitals. Are they the same way, with Tet. Thanks again

millydoo wrote:

... He actually died in Phnom Penh, Cambodia he had been living in Sihanoukville. ...

Cambodia doesn't do Tet.

This means that all your communications should be directed to the US Embassy in PP - Cambodia being less organised that VietNam.

I would like to suggest some practical advice. Think carefully about the disposition of the Deceased's remains.

US law requires a coffin be sealed, and remain sealed, if it is returned to the States, until internment. This means there will be no viewing. Furthermore, shipping a coffin is extremely expensive, special air freight rates apply.

The most practical method of returning a Deceased to the States is cremated in an urn which can be transported by courier.

Cambodia, by the way, is adjacent to VietNam and the time differences and Embassy hours of operation are identical. You will likely hear nothing before Monday (Sunday night State-side).

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for your help. In this time of saddness it is very overwhelming. I will contact the right people with the help you have given me. Thank you so much.

Please accept my condolences.  I can't imagine the pain your son's suffering from this loss.

There is a Cambodian/Phnom Penh forum on this site:

https://www.expat.com/en/destination/as … hnom-penh/

Thank you for sharing the story.  It reminded me that I have to to make a plan for my family, laying out what they should do if I died.

Was he teaching English in Cambodia? 

I wish I could be of more assistance.