Neoreviews Subscribe to Pediatrics in Review
HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS CME ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow E-Letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-Letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Laing, I. A.
Right arrow Articles by Becher, J.-C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Laing, I. A.
Right arrow Articles by Becher, J.-C.

NeoReviews Vol.7 No.4 2006 e177
© 2006 American Academy of Pediatrics

International Perspectives

The Role of the Neonatal Necropsy Today: A Scottish Perspective

Ian A. Laing*
Julie-Clare Becher*

* Royal Infirmary Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh School of Medicine, Edinburgh, Scotland

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.


   Introduction
 
In many parts of the developed world, the role of the neonatal necropsy has diminished in status and often is regarded with suspicion and even hostility for a number of reasons. There may be a touching faith in the excellence of noninvasive technology to provide all answers. There also may be a suspicion that clinicians wish to experiment on deceased newborns. Such understandable beliefs may have stemmed, in part, from neonatologists’ failure to explain to families the limitations of sophisticated equipment and from secrecy surrounding the process of necropsy. Such secrecy was certainly pervasive but often well-meant, generally stemming from a misguided wish to protect vulnerable parents from the reality of their baby’s body being mutilated.

The last 5 years have seen dramatic changes in the consent process for necropsy in the United Kingdom. In January 2001, the Redfern Report was published, following an intensive inquiry into the removal, retention, and disposal of human organs and tissues after postmortem examinations in the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital NHS Trust. The Report described a "systematic" removal of organs, often without consent. Throughout the United Kingdom, pediatric pathologists and histopathologists felt vilified and abandoned, and longstanding shortages in the workforce were exacerbated. As a result of public anxiety, the necropsy rate declined dramatically. We cannot tell how many families have suffered because of the decrease in information to them as a consequence of this inquiry and the extraordinary media exposure.

In the following discussion, "necropsy" is our preferred word for the postmortem examination, deriving from "necros" or death. Autopsy is used more widely, but is literally "seen by oneself" from "autos"=self and "optos"=seen. Most postmortem examinations may be performed by one person, but usually are seen by several people.


   Purpose of the Necropsy
 
The easy path for neonatologists is not to ask for authorization for necropsies because . . . [Full Text of this Article]






HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS CME ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2006 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.