Important addition to Autopsy Guidelines
November 2007
Coronial autopsies and current practice: Accuracy of cause of death and tissue sampling

Report of a working group of The Royal College of Pathologists
September 2002
Please click on the lines below to download the sections you require. Alternatively, to receive a hard copy, please contact the Publications Department on 020 7451 6730. Updated and additional best practice scenarios to cover specific autopsy situations are available in the 2005 Guidelines on Autopsy Practice - best practice scenarios.

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Contents and Summary

Main document (excluding Appendices)

Appendices 1 to 12

Appendix 1: Hazard Group 3 pathogens

Appendix 2: Guidelines for assessing presence of Hazard Group 4 pathogens in a cadaver

Appendix 3: Protocols for performing post-mortem examinations on known or suspect 'high-risk' infected cadavers: Hazard Group 3 infections HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Appendix 4: Notification of infectious diseases

Appendix 5: Minimum datasets and best practice for examinations and reports on internal organs

Appendix 6: Guidelines for autopsy investigation of fetal and perinatal death

Appendix 7: Guidelines for autopsy investigation in post-neonatal infant deaths or sudden unexpected deaths in infancy *

Appendix 8: Neuropathological cases

Appendix 9: Maternal death *

Appendix 10: Forensic examinations

Appendix 11: Sickle cell disease *

Appendix 12: Members of the Working Party on the Autopsy

* indicates that an appendix has been superceded by a 2005 scenario.