Further question about hospital death notification

This is a tough question. Patient privacy protections that went into effect a few years ago have changed what information can be provided. Under the current rules, unless you know the room number of a patient, most hospitals won't give out that information. Clergy can't visit unless they are given the room information and are told of the hospitalization so I'm not sure what happens if someone not on a notify list calls. I do know that when a close friend from my college years was terminally ill and in the hospital I could not send flowers or a card without getting the room # from the family.

Here's a link, though, with information about the patient privacy that might yield some information:

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/

Generally speaking if you are not a family member or on a list, hospitals will not give you any information regarding the patient over the phone. However, if the patient is in an area which can be accessed during visiting hours, and you were to show up, the nurses will generally tell you that the patient has died but not much else. One way around this is to leave a message at the nursing station for the family. They will usually pass it along.

Most of the time, when people check into hospitals (and not for emergency services) they have a new form to fill out which will allow the patient to decide if they wish to be listed in the registry - which would allow the hospital to say whether or not the patient is even in there.

In my recent experience, there was a 'family code' that people could give to get information, but the hospital didn't really enforce it until they got the third call from Switzerland! Not really, but after about the first four days, they had to start enforcing it just to cut down on the number of calls (didn't realize I was all that popular). Anyone with the family code could find out things, without it, the hospital staff couldn't talk to you.

However, a friend of mine that lived in the city where I was so unfortunately and quickly hospitalized was able to come by and visit every day, and so was able to glean some information even after the 'family code' was enforced.

This was a large teaching hospital in the west, if any of that helps.

Rabe...

Generally speaking, I think you'll have a hard time getting a nurse to commit to telling someone ol' Fred has died. "No longer a patient on this unit" is likely the best you'll get. You might want to invent a trainee ward clerk who goofs and tells them, or something.
And as for terminology, it would be whatever she uses in polite conversation, excepting maybe "shuffled off this mortal coil" or "he is an ex-Fred!"