Work

The slow death of the clinical post-mortem examination: implications for clinical audit, diagnostics and medical education

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: The adult clinical post-mortem examination has seriously declined in Norwich recently, with only 34 of them (representing 1.4% of deaths in hospital) having been undertaken in 2003. Moreover, the next-of-kin are increasingly restricting the extent of the examination when they give consent. Analogous but less severe changes have occurred in the post-mortem examination of stillbirths and perinates. Many clinicians are unaware of these events, which may come to have wide-ranging detrimental effects. One possible cause is the lack of training of junior medical staff in obtaining consent for post-mortem examination, though other factors are also important.

Source: Clinical Medicine

DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.4-5-417

Authors: Urszula Carr, Lesley Bowker, Richard Y Ball

Institutions: Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, University of East Anglia

Language: English

Topic: Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes

Subfield: Pathology and Forensic Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,500