Sandwell Council will be the first local authority to pay for digital autopsies on behalf of bereaved local families.
A £1.2m digital autopsy centre, offering non-invasive post moterms, is being opened Sandwell Valley Crematorium in November. The council will cover the cost of the service if the deceased person lived in the borough and the coroner decides the circumstances of the death are suitable for digital autopsy.
Sandwell Council's deputy leader, Cllr Mahboob Hussain, said: ‘The digital autopsy is non-invasive and the results are available quickly, which is going to be of real comfort to grieving families.
‘We're proud to be the first council in the country to work with the private sector to offer this service free of charge to residents.’
A digital autopsy, to be conducted by medical software company iGene London, uses a CT scanner to create a 3D reconstruction of a body. The service normally costs more than £500 and the results are available almost immediately.
Professor Peter Gaines, consultant radiologist for iGene, said: ‘Digital autopsy stands to revolutionise centuries-old post mortem practices, treating the dead with the same respect as the living and taking away one additional source of much anguish for their bereaved family.’
