Agenda item

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

To consider the petition ‘Introduce Digital Autopsy Facilities in Coventry’ bearing a total of 980 paper and online signatures, which is being supported by Councillor G Ridley, a Woodlands Ward Councillor, who has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item along with the petition organiser.

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director or Law and Governance which responded to a petition requesting the introduction of digital autopsy facilities in Coventry. The paper and online petitions, totalling 980 signatures, were received in early 2022 and were sponsored by Councillor G Ridley. The report outlined the petition detail and the justification for the request.

In response to the petition, the report informed of proposals in respect of how a working group would address the provision of non-invasive postmortem (PM) in Coventry.

The coroner is an independent judicial post holder who is supported by the local authority in terms of support and resources to enable the functions of the coroner to be undertaken.

Once a coroner’s statutory duty to investigate a death was triggered, the coroner would have control of the body of the deceased until his coronial functions had come to an end. That control would commence when the coroner was made aware that a body was within that coroner’s area. It would be for the coroner to decide whether to commission a first or subsequent postmortem, and this would be a  judicial decision and only challengeable by way of a Judicial Review.

These powers are to be exercised with proper regard to the rights and interests involved. H.M. Coroner for Coventry and Warwickshire recognises that postmortem examinations may cause distress to bereaved families and may also delay the release of bodies to bereaved families which in itself can be distressing; a postmortem should therefore only be directed when the circumstances require it for a proper consideration as to the cause of death.

There is no legal definition of what constitutes a postmortem examination. It can include any of the following: external examination of the body; toxicology tests; test on organ and tissue samples from the body; CT or MRI scanning; and/or full internal; invasive examination of the body.

Legislation makes it clear that a coroner may specify the kind of examination to be made. The Chief Coroner encourages coroners to consider the use of less invasive forms of examination appropriate cases, especially where the bereaved family has a strong objection to invasive examination.

Non-invasive postmortem imaging may not be the appropriate technique to determine the cause of death in all cases. In addition, facilities vary across the country, and where there were no provisions, such as Coventry, the body must be transported out of the area for a non-invasive postmortem to be undertaken.

Many families (particularly those belonging to certain faith groups) request postmortem imaging instead of more invasive autopsy. The benefit of image based examinations is that thorough detailed images of the state of the body, both externally and internally would be permanently recorded for anyone to review in the future.

There are some disadvantages to the use of non-invasive postmortem, in some cases, a non-invasive postmortem result may still require an invasive postmortem which can cause delay and further distress to the family. In addition, there was some concern around limited availability and associated costs.

Councillor Ridley and the petition organiser attended the meeting and spoke in respect of the petition. They welcomed the establishment of a working group to consider future provision, however, they expressed disappointment with the lengthy timescales involved. The petition organiser further commented that there was provision at the hospital in the early hours where the coroners could request the use of the scanners and that the council should consider entering into an agreement with another local authority to provide the service to minimise delays.

The Cabinet Member noted that the working group that had been set up would be considering and exploring all avenues available to expand on the services already available; including those raised by the petitioners. However, it had to be noted that resources and staffing would have to be considered and even if a postmortem was undertaken without delay, pathology would still need to consider the results.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities agrees that a working group develops options around the use of non-invasive postmortems and reports back to the Cabinet Member on its progress within six months.