‘Abhorrent, shocking’: Grandmother’s body kept in panel van awaiting doctor

A family is pushing for the law to be changed after they were forced to load their deceased grandmother into a panel van to have her death certified by a GP.

Elizabeth O'Kane's daughter Anna and grandson Josef are seething at the treatment they received when she passed away from cancer at home earlier this month.

The 71-year-old's GP could not come to them to certify the death, so they were forced to take Elizabeth's body to a medical centre several kilometres away.

Video shot by the family shows that they had to park the van holding Elizabeth's body in the carpark of Marketplace Medical in Rutherford, a small town in the lower Hunter Valley.

The body lay for more than an hour in the back of a funeral director's panel van.

Anna compared the situation to black comedy film Weekend At Bernie's.

"But when you've got your mother laying there, it's not something that you want to do," she said.

Josef told A Current Affair it was not only "undignified" for his grandmother, but it could be traumatic for the public to witness as well.

The first doctor was unable to verify Elizabeth's death and had to call out a second after he thought he could detect a heartbeat.

In all states, if a person dies at home or in a nursing home, a doctor, nurse or paramedic is able to verify the death.

But in New South Wales, a GP must sight the deceased in order to complete the cremation paperwork.

CR Smyth and Sons Funeral Services director Paul Smyth, whose company was hired to transport Elizabeth's body, said the legislation needed to "move onto the 21st century".

"Why can't those nurses say to the doctor, 'your patient is deceased'?" he said.

"Why do they need to see that patient?"

Funeral Directors Association president Michael Mackay has been fighting to change the legislation for more than 20 years.

"It's certainly not the extreme, it happens constantly and it's become the norm," he said.

"So it's as simple as changing a form. Why won't they do it?"

Elizabeth's family's local MP, Jenny Aitchison, has taken their case to the floor of the NSW Parliament.

"That is actually the most shocking, abhorrent and disgraceful story I have ever heard," she said in a speech.

Elizabeth's family are also hoping changes to the law come sooner rather than later.

"We just want to see justice for nan and to ensure that it never happens to anybody else," Josef said.