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Scan alternative to a post mortem
Ailsa Cranna5/ 6/2008
SALFORD’S coroner is promoting a revolutionary replacement for the post mortem to help reduce the grief felt by mourning families who do not want their loved one to undergo intrusive examination.
Instead of traditional surgical methods, coroner Jennifer Leeming is offering relatives the choice to electronically scan the deceased to determine the cause of death.
The MRI scans cost £500, with subsequent scans costing £350.
And as someone who lost her husband when she was six months pregnant with their only child, the 59-year-old solicitor knows the grief that comes with a sudden death.
She said: "My husband died 20 years ago when I was pregnant with our son.
"He died in Scotland and because he had been to the doctor several days before he collapsed, complaining of heart pains, when he had his attack they knew what it was.
"A post mortem was not necessary in those circumstances and there was no inquest, but for days I had the trauma of not knowing what was happening and that was immensely distressing.
"I am, therefore, fully aware of how bereaved families feel and how, when they are at their most vulnerable, they feel this enormous sense of frustration, not knowing whether their loved one is going to have a full post mortem.
"This new, body scan system will at least give them a sense of empowerment, a feeling that they have control over something in what is otherwise a nightmare situation."
Some groups, notably the Jewish community, are uncomfortable with invasive post mortem examinations on religious grounds.
Generally, they seek to have their loved one buried as soon as possible - sometimes on the same day they have died - and unless, it is absolutely necessary, are against full post mortem examinations.
That is why the scan system has been wholeheartedly supported by the Jewish community in Salford.
The Jewish Burial Board’s Solomon Adler, who liaises between Mrs Leeming’s office and the burial board, said: "A lot of people do not want their loved ones carved up. Bodies are stitched up very roughly.
"The Jewish community welcomes the initiative. We used to have 60-70 intrusive post mortems a year but in the last 10 years we have had eight.
"The rest have been scans."
The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are operated out-of-hours by staff at North Manchester General Hospital.
However, the Jewish Burial Board will foot the bill for members of the Jewish community.
Other bereaved families will be informed about the scanning service in the course of meetings with the coroner’s office.
Many families are expected to take up the option of paying for the procedure despite the cost.
They will be advised on whether the procedure is an option in their case, whether further scans might be necessary or, whether a full post mortem is the only way to discover the cause of death.
The process has also been supported by all of Mrs Leeming’s colleagues across Greater Manchester.
She added: "My duty is to discover that cause of death. If that is discovered with a scan then my duty is fulfilled. It has been really well received in the community.
"The scans rarely fail to come up with a cause of death. Only one or two have not come up with a cause and then there is no option but to have an invasive post-mortem."
How a MRI scanner works: The patient lies inside a large, cylinder-shaped magnet. Radio waves 10,000 to 30,000 times stronger than the magnetic field of the earth are then sent through the body. This affects the body’s atoms, forcing the nuclei into a different position. As they move back into place they send out radio waves of their own. The scanner picks up these signals and a computer turns them into a picture.
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27/06/2008 at 22:29
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We can all do that. I can come up with a cause of death by reading tea leaves. Coming up with the correct cause of death is a little more tricky.
4/07/2008 at 11:01