Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Question 252: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the cost to the State of carrying out a post mortem; the grounds on which a post mortem is carried out; the reason it was necessary to carry out a post mortem on a 91 year old woman who had been in long-term care in a nursing home and subsequently hospitalised a week prior to her death; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38315/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Coroners Act 1962 (Fees and Expenses) Regulations 2009 (S.I. No 155 of 2009) prescribe the fees and expenses payable for services provided under the Coroners Act, 1962. The fee payable to a person for performing a post-mortem or a special examination, including preparatory work, any tests required and subsequent report to the coroner is €321.40. The fee payable to a person for assisting at a post-mortem examination is, in the case of a pathology technician, €25.23.

It is in the public interest that an independent legal officer of the State, i.e. the relevant coroner, is empowered by statute to direct the conduct of a post-mortem examination of the body of a deceased person where a medical certificate as to cause of death is not procurable. Whilst no details regarding this case were given to me by the Deputy, I understand from the coroner concerned that the relevant medical practitioner was unable to furnish a clear cause of death. In the circumstances, the coroner was under a statutory duty pursuant to the Coroners Act 1962 to direct a post-mortem examination on the deceased.

The coroner has indicated that everything possible was done on behalf of the next of kin to alleviate the undoubted distress that sometimes affects next of kin when the body of their loved one is subjected to an autopsy. I should also add that the hospital concerned has a liaison officer who is available to next of kin to explain why an autopsy is necessary in circumstances where a medical certificate as to cause of death is not procurable.