Chief Coroner Guidance 32 -Post-Mortem Examination including 2nd Post-Mortems23/09/2019
It has been twenty years since the last piece of guidance on PMEs (the Home Office
Circular No.30/1999 which is now obsolete). This is a subject which has been in need of
detailed guidance for some time, due to the medical and scientific developments that
have taken place over the last few years and the desire of coroners to put the bereaved
families at the heart of the process, whilst ensuring that their statutory duty to answer the
four questions (who the deceased was; how, when and where the deceased came by his
or her death), is met. This is particularly acute where second PMEs need to be ordered
and this Guidance documents attempts to give some helpful parameters to coroners on
this topic.
The Lord Chief Justice has approved the Guidance.