Report notes rise in cases dealt with by State Pathologist last year

There were 345 cases dealt with by the Office of the State Pathologist in 2020, a slight rise on the previous year, according to its annual report.

The majority of these were State forensic cases, comprising 54 per cent of the total caseload.

The Office of the State Pathologist provides independent expert advice on matters relating to forensic pathology and performs postmortem examinations in cases of criminal, suspicious or unusual deaths.

The office also performs postmortem examinations in non-suspicious deaths directed by the Dublin District Coroner, on a rotational basis, analyses skeletonised remains, and deals with referred cases from inside and outside of Ireland.

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Attendance at the scene of death was recorded in 29 of 188 cases last year. A total of 109 adult non-suspicious postmortem examinations were carried out at the direction of the Dublin District Coroner.

There were 39 cases of skeletonised remains, 28 of which were documented as animal bones and 11 as human bones.

The increase in skeletonised remains on the previous year was most likely due to “increased public outdoor activity, and in part to new service level agreements with independent forensic anthropologists”, the report said.

Nine cases were referred to the Office of the State Pathologist for expert opinion. “The amount of material to be reviewed in these cases often required a significant input from the individual pathologist,” said the report.

“This includes liaising with the referring gardaí, solicitors or coroners, sometimes from outside the Irish jurisdiction, reviewing all relevant records and compiling a report. These cases may also involve a court appearance. On average, each case requires approximately 10 hours work, although some cases may require almost double that amount of time.”

More than half of the State cases were performed in Dublin.

The Office of the State Pathologist received a total budget allocation of €983,000 last year, while its total expenditure was just over €1 million.

The report said the overrun was due to expenditure on locum pathologists.

“It was necessary to continue to engage the locum forensic pathologists to cover existing vacancies,” it said.

Minister for Justice Heather Humphreys said: "The Covid-19 pandemic played a prominent role in all of our lives in 2020 and the unique position of the Office of the State Pathologist as liaison between the Coroners, An Garda Síochána, the Faculty of Pathology and mortuaries around the country meant that it played a pivotal role in the development of guidelines and increasing the recognition of autopsy as a tool for progressing medical knowledge at a national level."