Abstract
In many countries as well as the consent as above, legally the autopsy is authorized by a human tissue act officer or medical director or their nominee, who legally allows the postmortem to go ahead. This is done after parental consent. There are variations throughout the world, and some of these are discussed. Consent is now recognised to be a process, a communication and understanding, and not just a simple signature to an official form.
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The following publications and websites may offer helpful information.
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Further Reading
Australia has sets of guidelines and rules covering mortuary and associated facilities. https://aushfg-prod-com-au.s3.amazonaws.com/HPU_B.0490_6_0.pdf. Some states have local government acts that control these. https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/dotd/Documents/disposal-of-bodies-ph-reg-2012.pdf.
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Charles, A. (2021). Consent for Medical Autopsy. In: Martinovic, J. (eds) Practical Manual of Fetal Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42492-3_3
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