{
  "abstract": "Objectives. — To describe practices for informing families following medico-legal autopsies in France and Belgium, expectations of professionals involved in communicating such information. Methods. — This multicentre, cross-sectional, descriptive observational study employed a mixed-methods approach. A questionnaire was distributed to forensic institutes to analyse their practices regarding communication with next of kin. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with magistrates, investigators, and victim support organisations operating within the jurisdiction of the Rennes forensic institute. Results. — Among the 26 responding French forensic institutes (84%), nine (35%) reported offering meetings with next of kin under broadly similar conditions, subject to prior approval by the public prosecutor. In the remaining 17 institutes (65%), information was primarily conveyed by investigators (94%) or the public prosecutor (82%). Among the two responding Belgian institutes (66%), only one reported having a formal system for informing next of kin. The main barriers to organising meetings included differing conceptions of the forensic pathologist’s",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Cécile Furic"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marine Jourdan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Coralie Hermetet"
    },
    {
      "name": "Maxime Alexandre"
    },
    {
      "name": "Renaud Bouvet"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/av4pb1rqh6vhz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.aolm.2026.200712",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "av4pb1rqh6vhz",
  "issns": [
    "2950-4325",
    "2950-3949"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05762416v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "hal",
      "0.sdv"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2741|Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214091913",
  "pdf_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05762416/document",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": "Elsevier Masson SAS",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/av4pb1rqh6vhz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:40Z",
      "native_id": "hal-05762416",
      "source": "hal",
      "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05762416v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2741|Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes",
      "subfield": "imaging"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Post-autopsy communication with next of kin in medico-legal contexts: A cross-national survey of practices in French and Belgian Forensic Institutes",
  "title_text": "Post-autopsy communication with next of kin in medico-legal contexts: A cross-national survey of practices in French and Belgian Forensic Institutes",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:40Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/av4pb1rqh6vhz",
  "venue": "Archives of Legal Medicine",
  "versions": []
}