Perceptions of near virtual autopsies

Introduction: We present for the first time to our knowledge an insight into pathology/medico-legal practitioners' and general public perceptions' of the use of computed tomography (CT) scanning as an alterative to the invasive autopsy. Subjects: The study arises from questionnaires at two professional meetings before and after an informative talk on the current use of CT in medico-legal autopsy practice. A total of 45 general public and 27 pathologists/medico-legal practitioners completed both parts of the study. A combination of open and closed questions were used to allow thematic and descriptive statistical analysis. Results/conclusions: The results show commonalities and differences of opinions between the two study groups. A desire was identified from the public to use CT scanning as an alternative to invasive autopsy if available. However, the majority of the public questioned indicated that they would not object to an invasive autopsy being undertaken on their relative if one was authorised by a coroner; it was the pathologists who questioned the need for the examination. However, although they raised this question, the pathologists still expressed the preference of the traditional invasive autopsy over a CT scan. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.