Information from a high-quality postmortem examination is the right of every parent after the death of their child.¹ Postmortem examination rates worldwide, however, continue to fall. Much of this decline has been attributed to changing societal views on postmortem examination, recent issues of organ retention, and evidence to suggest that parents or carers are less likely to give consent.²

Having reviewed our own practice, we hypothesised that rather than a decline in parental consent, clinicians were less likely to offer a postmortem examination. In November 2004, we carried out a semistructured telephone interview of 60 consultants from 46 level 2 …