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J Clin Pathol 2004;57:448 doi:10.1136/jcp.2003.012633
  • Correspondence

The impact of the organ retention controversy on the practice of hospital necropsy: a four year audit

  1. D Mcguone1,
  2. E W Kay2
  1. 1Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin 1, Ireland
  2. 2Department of Histopathology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland; mleader@iol.ie

      Following the recent publication in this journal of two original articles dealing with the value of the necropsy1 and its practice after the “organ retention scandal”,2 we report on the situation in Ireland, where the issue of postmortem practice is still the subject of a formal inquiry.

      Worldwide, there has been a considerable decline in the incidence of hospital necropsies over the past several decades.2–12 It is generally acknowledged that this consistent and pandemic decline has a complex aetiology.13,14 The recent and ongoing “organ retention” controversy is thought to have had an important additional impact.

      We undertook a study to assess whether or not a significant reduction occurred in the total …

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