Carpenter Belinda, Barnes Michael, Adkins Glenda, Naylor Charles, Tait Gordon, Begum Nelufa
School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology.
J Law Med. 2008 Dec;16(3):458-65.
The purpose of this article is to detail research completed in 2007 which investigated the way in which coroners made decisions in a death investigation, with a particular focus on their autopsy decision-making. The data were gathered during the first year of operation of a new Coroners Act in Queensland, Australia, which required a greater amount of information to be gathered at the scene by police, and this included a thorough investigation of the circumstances of the death, including statements from witnesses, friends and family, as well as evidence-gathering at the scene. This article addresses the outcomes of that increased information on coronial decision-making in three ways: first, whether or not the greater amount of information offered to coroners enabled them to be less reliant on full internal autopsies to establish cause of death; secondly whether certain factors were more influential in decision-making; and thirdly, whether the information gathered at the scene negates the need for full internal autopsies in many situations, irrespective of the decision-making by coroners.
本文旨在详述2007年完成的一项研究，该研究调查了验尸官在死因调查中做出决策的方式，特别关注他们的尸检决策。数据收集于澳大利亚昆士兰州一项新的《验尸官法案》实施的第一年，该法案要求警方在现场收集更多信息，这包括对死亡情况进行全面调查，收集证人、朋友和家人的陈述，以及在现场收集证据。本文从三个方面阐述了这些增加的信息对验尸官决策的影响：第一，提供给验尸官的更多信息是否使他们减少了对全面内部尸检以确定死因的依赖；第二，某些因素在决策中是否更具影响力；第三，无论验尸官如何决策，现场收集的信息在许多情况下是否消除了进行全面内部尸检的必要性。
