Is consent necessary? Who may attend the autopsy?
The coroner is not required to obtain the consent of relatives or others for a post-mortem examination to be made. The coroner will inform certain “properly interested persons” of when and where the autopsy will take place if those persons have notified the coroner of their desire to attend the autopsy, unless it is impractical to notify them or to do so would cause the examination to be unduly delayed. The people entitled to notify the coroner of their desire to attend include the deceased’s relatives and others with an interest in the death, for example the deceased’s regular medical practitioner. Such persons are not entitled personally to be present but are entitled to be represented at the examination by a doctor of their choice, but they have to pay any fee the doctor may charge. The chief officer of police may notify a coroner of his wish to be represented at a post-mortem examination and is then entitled to be represented by a police officer.
