Post-autopsy communication with next of kin in medico-legal contexts: A cross-national survey of practices in French and Belgian Forensic Institutes
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
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BibTeX
@article{furic2026postautopsy,
title = {{Post-autopsy communication with next of kin in medico-legal contexts: A cross-national survey of practices in French and Belgian Forensic Institutes}},
author = {Cécile Furic and Marine Jourdan and Coralie Hermetet and Maxime Alexandre and Renaud Bouvet},
journal = {Archives of Legal Medicine},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.aolm.2026.200712},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05762416v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Post-autopsy communication with next of kin in medico-legal contexts: A cross-national survey of practices in French and Belgian Forensic Institutes
AU - Cécile Furic
AU - Marine Jourdan
AU - Coralie Hermetet
AU - Maxime Alexandre
AU - Renaud Bouvet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
JO - Archives of Legal Medicine
DO - 10.1016/j.aolm.2026.200712
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05762416v1
AB - 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
SN - 2950-4325
SN - 2950-3949
ER -