You can choose to have a complete or a limited post-mortem examination on your baby. Your placenta can be part of the post-mortem. Each option will give different amounts and kinds of information.
A complete post-mortem measures, weighs and examines all the internal organs in detail to find out why the baby died. The baby’s face, arms, legs, hands and feet are not usually affected. After the examination, your baby’s body is carefully restored, as following an operation.
If you do not want a complete post-mortem, you can choose to have a limited examination of certain organs, skin samples, or an external examination of your baby.
You can have an examination of your placenta. This can provide extremely valuable information. During this examination, samples are taken for study under a microscope. Hospitals do not have to ask for consent to examine your placenta but should inform you if they intend to do this.
The senior health professional who talks with you about consenting for post-mortem can explain fully the differences in the types of examination, and will give you written information to take away to help you think about your choices.