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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2014 Aug;36(6):464–470. doi: 10.1097/MPH.0000000000000078

Table 3. Information Most Important to Include in a Discussion about Autopsy.

Parents who…
All parents (N = 30) Recall being asked about autopsy (N = 11) Do not recall being asked about autopsy (N = 19)
Autopsy topics about which parents wanted to know Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

How the autopsy can potentially help other children 27 90.0 10 90.9 17 89.5

How the medical team can learn more about their child's cancer 27 90.0 9 81.8 18 94.7

How they can learn about the findings of the autopsy 25 83.3 8 72.7 17 89.5

How the autopsy will help their child's doctor 24 80.0 8 72.7 16 84.2

Whether or not their doctors will meet face to face to help them understand the findings 22 73.3 6 54.5 16 84.2

Whether or not their child's body will be handled respectfully 21 70.0 9 81.8 12 63.2

Details on how the autopsy is performed 18 60.0 7 63.6 11 57.9

Whether or not the autopsy delays the funeral, and if so, by how long 18 60.0 5 45.5 13 68.4

Whether or not there are different types of autopsy 16 53.3 8 72.7 8 42.1

Whether or not guests at the funeral will be able to tell that an autopsy was done 16 53.3 5 45.5 11 57.9

Whether or not the pathology is done like that for any operation 8 26.7 5 45.5 3 15.8

Whether or not the information from the autopsy will help them grieve 6 20.0 2 18.2 4 21.1