AN EXPLORATORY-STUDY OF THE PATTERN OF CONSENT FOR AUTOPSY IN A REGIONAL-HOSPITAL SETTING

A prospective study of the pattern of responses to requests for autops y in a general surgical unit was performed, Information on the charact eristics of the deceased, of the requestee and of the requester was do cumented in the case of 66 patients who died while in hospital. Permis sion to perform autopsy was not requested in 39 out of 66 cases and th is was the most frequent contributory factor to the low rate of autops y, Once a decision to grant or refuse autopsy is made by relatives of the deceased, the decision is unlikely to be reversed, Permission to p erform autopsy was more likely to be sought when the deceased was male than when deceased was female, The relatives of patients who had rece ntly undergone surgery were more likely to refuse permission for autop sy than were those of patients who had not had recent surgery.