BMJ  2004;328:406 (14 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7436.406

Letter

Payment for coroners' postmortem examinations

Financial gain is pathetic...

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Alcolado remembers as a house officer requesting a postmortem examination and being forced to make it a coroner's at the request of a pathologist.¹

Firstly, let me make it clear that nobody can force someone to make a death into a coroner's post mortem if a cause of death is established. The doctor simply signs the death certificate to this effect. I know of no pathologist who can bend the ear of the coroner to this extent—rather the opposite. In my experience, cases are often not referred to the coroner that should be, such as postoperative deaths.

Secondly, the idea that the pathologist receives "a substantial payment" for each coroner's post mortem is laughable. I get £78 for each postmortem case I do, and this often involves four to six hours of work because I deal with complex postoperative deaths that usually require detailed examination and histology. The . . . [Full text of this article]

Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital Trust, London SW3 6NP m.sheppard@rbh.nthames.nhs.uk

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