|
How to Send a Case for a Post-Mortem Examination
What Happens After the Examination?
Sparrow Health System Forensic Services Division offers medical examiner services and complete forensic pathology services to area medical examiners.
Note: Services of the Forensic
Division cannot be requested by family members or the general
public. Only a medical examiner can request services.
- Sparrow Health System
provides transportation of bodies requiring post-mortem
examination from your Michigan county to Sparrow Hospital in
Lansing.
- The forensic pathologists conducting the examinations are fellowship trained and board certified in their specialty.
- We work closely with other forensic specialists from Michigan State University when appropriate for the case being investigated.
How to Send a Case for a Post-Mortem Examination (Medical Examiners ONLY)
Call 1.888.436.7366. You will hear a recorded message indicating which forensic services coordinator is on call and how to reach this individual.
Contact the coordinator, who will ask basic questions about the case, whether law enforcement personnel wish to attend, how we can contact those attending
the examination, and whether transportation to Sparrow Hospital from your county is desired. If transport is needed, the coordinator will make these arrangements.
If needed, the coordinator will tell you an approximate start time for the examination.
It is most helpful if you know the funeral home the family has selected and the phone number of the funeral home. We will contact the funeral home after the examination and release the body
to them.
Please be ready to provide a fax number or another contact number to send results to the medical examiner following the completion of the death certificate.
Most autopsies are completed in less than 24 hours following referral to Sparrow Forensic Services. Autopsies are not routinely performed on Sundays.
What Happens After the Examination?
After the post-mortem examination, the body is released to the funeral home selected by the family.
Bodies are not released until all testing is completed and identification of the body is confirmed in select cases. Samples for
toxicology, fingerprints and samples for DNA analysis are obtained in all cases examined when available.
Following the examination, a preliminary report will be faxed or called to the medical examiner with the post-mortem examination findings.
Most final reports are finished within 60 days. Some cases, such as those requiring additional testing by consultants or those needing additional toxicology testing, can take longer. If a case involves
a preliminary hearing in less than 60 days, the forensic pathologist should be informed of this as soon as possible, and the case will be given a higher priority.
|
