Coroners and Inquests: Coroners

What Is a Post-Mortem Examination/Autopsy?

In more than half of the cases that are reported to a Coroner, a post-mortem examination (sometimes called a PM or an autopsy) is ordered.

A PM is a medical examination of the body, which is carried out by a specialist doctor (a pathologist).  The purpose of the examination is to establish what caused the death of the deceased.  The Coroner selects the pathologist who is to undertake the examination.  Having undertaken a PM, the pathologist writes a report, detailing his or her findings, and submits it to the Coroner.

Coroners have the power to order a buried body to be exhumed, in order to undergo an autopsy.  However, this power is very seldom used (generally, it happens fewer than 10 times a year across the whole of England and Wales). 

What Are my Rights?

If you are a relative of the deceased, and you have notified the Coroner of your interest in proceedings,

  • You should be informed of when and where a PM is to take place.
  • You also have the right to be represented at a PM by a medical practitioner (i.e. a doctor) of your choosing.  Your representative does not have the right to "interfere" with the examination, and is simply there as an observer.
  • In addition, it should be possible for you to arrange a second, independent PM, to be undertaken by a pathologist of your choice, although you will have to pay for this yourself.  Please note, however, that other "interested parties" may also have similar rights: for example, if your relative died in hospital, the hospital may be entitled to representation at the PM.  If the death is likely to be the subject of criminal proceedings (e.g. a murder charge), the Defendant(s) may also have the right to commission their own autopsy.

You do not have the right to prevent a PM from taking place: for obvious reasons, it is essential that the State can insist on a full investigation of a death without the consent of the next of kin.  However, if you have strong objections to an autopsy taking place, you may be able to convince the Coroner to avoid such an investigation, especially if you belong to a religious group that places high value on the sanctity of the body, or strives to bury the dead without delay.  Recently, one such group (the Jewish community in Manchester) has had some success in campaigning for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans to be used as an alternative to surgical autopsy.  The Coroner for Central Manchester will now accept a cause of death identified by an MRI examination, as long as the finding is clear-cut.  If the idea of an "invasive" autopsy is something about which you feel very strongly, then you may be able to persuade your Coroner to follow a similar procedure.

Once an autopsy has taken place, the Coroner is normally expected to make a copy of the PM report available to any interested party.  If you need help understanding a document like this, your GP will normally be happy to go through it with you, and answer any questions you may have.

What Happens Next?

The Coroner may decide that the PM report provides enough information for him or her to conclude that death occurred of natural causes.  He or she will then issue a death certificate, and the investigation will proceed no further.

If, on the other hand, the Coroner believes that the death was suspicious - or there are still significant questions to be answered about the circumstances of the death - an Inquest will be ordered (see below).

Normally, the Coroner is able to release the body of the deceased at this stage, so a funeral and burial or cremation can take place.  In some circumstances - particularly where further investigations are needed because of criminal proceedings - the release of the body may be delayed.