EDITOR,—In a recent postal questionnaire survey of parents' satisfaction with the arrangements pertaining to postmortem examination after perinatal loss we found evidence to support Malcolm Chiswick's contention that seeking parental consent for postmortem examinations requires communication skills and experience.1 We would suggest that communicating the findings of the examination requires similar skills and experience.

In mid-1994 a member of the social work department telephoned women who had had a perinatal loss—a termination of pregnancy for conditions diagnosed antenatally, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, or neonatal death—at the …