does everyone have a post mortem?

After watching programmes like silent witness, I wondered, does everyone whose body is in a state to be examined ie not blown to shreds, have a post mortem?

Even if they were terminally ill or had a limb sliced off, so that it's obvious what they died of and wasn't murder?

Obviously every body that the police randomly find and they don't have any witnesses to the death of, they need to, to investigate it.

But if it definately wasn't murder and it was obvious what they died from and when, what's the point?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

thethinker

Nope

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Post-mortem/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Reply 2

Clare~Bear

Thanks, I was just curious and thought it must be a waste of time and money to do them on every body.

Reply 3

InnerTemple

Original post by Clare~Bear

After watching programmes like silent witness, I wondered, does everyone whose body is in a state to be examined ie not blown to shreds, have a post mortem?

Even if they were terminally ill or had a limb sliced off, so that it's obvious what they died of?

Obviously every body that the police randomly find and they don't have any witnesses to the death of, they need to, to investigate it.

But if it definately wasn't murder and it was obvious what they died from and when, what's the point?

As the poster above said, a post mortem is not needed in every case and can be ordered in two ways: by a coroner or requested by a hospital.

Where a death occurs outside of a hospital, a post mortem will usually be requested if the death was unexpected (otherwise healthy person drops dead) or where their is reason to believe some foul play. Even if it is clear why the person died (e.g. they are found submerged in a bath or in the kitchen with their wrists slashed) a post mortem may still be ordered to rule out any possibility of foul play.

Reply 4

jimbo139

No, very few people have a post mortem these days.

Reply 5

RetiredAccount89

Original post by Clare~Bear

After watching the last 3 episodes (well 6 as they are 2 parters) can I point out that pathologists in relaity don't kill themselves that frequently.

Leo and his kiss of death ey?

Reply 6

BeanofJelly

A post mortem is ordered by the coroner wherever a doctor cannot confidently sign the death certificate giving a cause of death. The pathologist investigates and then if they find the cause they can complete the certificate.

A lot of people will have a PM done. Most are older people who for whatever reason have been found dead at home/ "dropped dead". The death isn't suspicious but a PM has to be done so that their death certificate can be completed. I guess also people who have died at the scene of accidents.

You won't have a PM if you are known to be suffering from a potentially fatal condition, have recent enough contact with doctors who can confidently say what killed you and can put it on the death certificate.

EDIT: Making sure people aren't being murdered is only a small part of the reason why everyone needs a death certificate giving the cause of their death. This information is used to generate health statistics. Which are important for everything from "hey this new plague is killing loads of people, how about we do something about it?" to "what is most likely to kill this or that group of people, can we prevent it?" to "huh, less smoking means less deaths by lung cancer" to "how much money should be spent on this condition?"

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 7

ThatPerson

No; I believe you only have a post-morterm if the coroner is suspicious of the cause of death.

Reply 8

Clare~Bear

What about if; you are terminally ill and given say 12-18 months but you die 2 or 3 months later ? Or would it depends on the circumstances wheatehr it could be deemed suspicious or they think it could be something else that killed you?

Reply 9

Helenia

Original post by Clare~Bear

It all depends on the circumstances of the death. If that person you described were found suddenly dead at home, they may get a PM as there's no obvious cause of death. If they were admitted to hospital with e.g. pneumonia and deteriorated and died, then they wouldn't. Not many people who die in hospital actually have a PM - they may get discussed with the coroner but the coroner may in some situations be happy to issue a certificate without a formal PM once they've heard the story.

It's also worth saying that predictions on how long someone has to live are notoriously inaccurate. And that in some circumstances you've described (e.g. having a limb sliced off) a PM may well still be done as even though the cause of death is obvious, investigation needs to be done as to whether there is a criminal/civil case to be created.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 10

Formerly Helpful_C

Could you request not to have one, even if the death was suspicious? Obviously, this would have to be in a will or something, but would they grant that wish?

Reply 11

Helenia

Original post by Formerly Helpful_C

Could you request not to have one, even if the death was suspicious? Obviously, this would have to be in a will or something, but would they grant that wish?

No. If the coroner orders a post-mortem, it has to be done.

However, sometimes hospitals request post-mortems which aren't ordered by the coroner, for a variety of reasons. These ones do require written consent from the next of kin and can be refused, but a coroner's PM cannot.

Reply 12

Formerly Helpful_C

Original post by Helenia

Why? I don't care how I died - I'm dead. I doubt the cause of death will be of any consolation to my family - I'm dead.

Reply 13

Helenia

Original post by Formerly Helpful_C

Why? I don't care how I died - I'm dead. I doubt the cause of death will be of any consolation to my family - I'm dead.

So if you were murdered they wouldn't care if they never knew for sure if you were murdered, or if no attempt was made to catch your killer? Or if you died as a result of an industrial accident they wouldn't care if the company weren't investigated about it and were left to allow other workers to die in similar accidents? Or if you died of some weird and wonderful genetic disease they wouldn't care about possibly finding out if they had it too?

And that's before we get into the realms of medical negligence etc...

PMs are not just to determine the medical cause of death (heart attack, pneumonia, head chopped off etc) but also its nature - whether natural, suicide, homicide etc. Both elements are important.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 14

Vohamanah

Original post by Formerly Helpful_C

Could you request not to have one, even if the death was suspicious? Obviously, this would have to be in a will or something, but would they grant that wish?

The will won't normally be read until a few weeks to a couple of months after the death, in any event. Too long for a post mortem. Same reason you don't put things like "I want to donate my organs" in your will - by the time they get round to reading the will it'll be far too late to action.

Reply 15

Formerly Helpful_C

Original post by Vohamanah

I wasn't being serious about the will - I just wanted to give an example of a legal document expressing my wishes at the time of passing.

Thank you, though.

Reply 16

Demonica46

Original post by Formerly Helpful_C

Why? I don't care how I died - I'm dead. I doubt the cause of death will be of any consolation to my family - I'm dead.

Hmm just another body going towards medical information off how or what we died of. Hmm somehow I dont think I'd like my body to be messed about with to find out what I died from when there is already medical information on file and no I wouldn't want to be embalmed or my organs donated to someone else either.