Table 6.
Reasons why necropsies were not requested by clinicians
| Clinical service | |||||||
| Reason | Internal medicine | Surgery | Child health | A&E | Oncology | ICU | Total N (%) |
| Confident clinical diagnosis | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 23 (33.8) |
| Radiological/lab investigations | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 (23.5) |
| Terminal illness | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 13 (19.1) |
| HIV positivity | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (10.3) |
| Refused by relatives | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 (7.4) |
| No further information to be gained | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 (2.9) |
| Chronic illness | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.5) |
| Patient too old | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.5) |
| Total number (%) | 41 (60.3) | 1 (1.5) | 6 (8.8) | 1 (1.5) | 15 (22.1) | 4 (5.9) | 68 (100) |
A&E, accident and emergency; ICU, intensive care unit; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus.