Over the years there has been accumulated guidance on the types of death scenarios that should be reported to a coroner, with such lists printed in the books of medical certificates of causes of death, and recent advice from the General Registrar's Office 1. The conditions described therein constitute the conditions considered potentially unnatural and are to be investigated by the coroner.
If an inquest is to take place, the resulting autopsy report may become part of the evidence. Often, but not always, this is supported by the presence of the pathologist at the inquest.
The communication between coroners and pathologists is critical to the operation of the system for autopsies, and comes under scrutiny in several places within this report. The size of coronial jurisdictions and numbers of deaths reported varies hugely 2 , and in the busier jurisdictions there are officers employed on behalf of the coroner in most aspects of referred cases.
They apply the policies laid down by the coroner and do most of the communicating with pathologists. Skip to main content. End of life and palliative care services. Home End of life and palliative care services. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet.
On this page. Coroner's autopsy Hospital autopsy The right to refuse an autopsy The autopsy procedure Tissue samples from an autopsy The funeral Autopsy results Where to get help Things to remember. Coroner's autopsy A coroner's autopsy is performed if the coroner or police need information for legal reasons about the cause of death — for example, if the person was murdered or their death was suspicious. Hospital autopsy A hospital or non-coronial autopsy may be performed if the immediate family give their consent.
Some of the reasons for a hospital autopsy can include: In some cases, the cause of the person's fatal illness may be unknown or uncertain. An autopsy can help determine the success or otherwise of a treatment method. An autopsy can give family members information in the case of suspected genetic illness. Medical science can learn about disease processes, such as atherosclerosis or sudden infant death syndrome SIDS , or the prevalence of particular diseases.
The right to refuse an autopsy 'Hospital' and 'coronial' post mortems have differing rules around refusal rights. Hospital autopsy The immediate family has the right to refuse or agree to a hospital autopsy of the deceased. Coronial autopsy The senior next of kin may object to the carrying out of a coronial autopsy and the coroner must consider their request to reconsider if the request is made within 48 hours of the senior available next of kin receiving a notification from the coroner.
The autopsy procedure The autopsy is performed like a surgical operation. The steps may include: The autopsy is performed as soon as possible following the family's consent. It is performed by a specially qualified doctor, called a pathologist, who is assisted by a technician. The death is caused by unwitnessed or suspected drowning.
The body is unidentified and the autopsy may aid in identification. The body is skeletonized. The body is charred. If someone related to you has died and their death has been referred to a coroner, you won't be asked to give consent permission for a post-mortem to take place. This is because the coroner is required by law to carry out a post-mortem when a death is suspicious, sudden or unnatural.
A coroner may decide to hold an inquest after a post-mortem has been completed. Samples of organs and tissues may need to be retained until after the inquest has finished. If the death occurred in suspicious circumstances, samples may also need to be kept by the police as evidence for a longer period. The coroner's office will discuss the situation with you if, following an inquest, tissue samples need to be retained for a certain length of time.
Post-mortems are sometimes requested by hospital doctors to provide more information about an illness or the cause of death, or to further medical research. Sometimes the partner or relative of the deceased person will request a hospital post-mortem to find out more about the cause of death.
Hospital post-mortems can only be carried out with consent. Sometimes a person may have given their consent before they died. If this isn't the case, a person close to the deceased can give their consent for a post-mortem to take place.
Hospital post-mortems may be limited to particular areas of the body, such as the head, chest or abdomen.
During the post-mortem, only the organs or tissue you have agreed to can be removed for examination. The HTA recommends you should be given at least 24 hours to consider your decision about the post-mortem examination.
A post-mortem will be carried out as soon as possible, usually within 2 to 3 working days of a person's death. Depending upon when the examination is due to take place, you may be able to see the body before the post-mortem is carried out.
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