In my state, nurses handle discharge entirely, whether it’s to the door or to the pearly gates. Someone may look over our work later, but we’re the ones who set the chart to be flagged as discharged and we’re the ones who ensure they’re correctly tagged and carted to the morgue. Generally we do not notify someone’s next of kin of their AMA in the US as that would be a HIPPA violation unless they’re deemed to be in danger and without capacity. Everything, as always, has carve outs and grey areas.
What happened with the body makes it sound like a Jane Doe unclaimed, but regardless there was systemic fuck ups going on here.