VPRS 16910 Autopsy Registers

The records were created by the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) Anatomical Pathology Department. Between 1911 and 1948 information recorded included the name, sex and age of the patient, the date of the autopsy, the name of the Medical Attendant, and diagnosis, remarks and an autopsy report. After August 1948 the recordkeeping practice changed. Individual autopsy reports were bound into annual volumes and kept as a separate series (presumably still in custody of the RCH). The registers from January 1951 continued to record details of the patient, the date time and location, and the name of the doctor however they ceased to record any diagnosis or remarks regarding the autopsy.Some entries are annotated 'coroner': presumably these were the cases that were referred to the coroner for further inquiry.It is not known if autopsy registers were maintained prior to 1911.Prior to transfer to Public Record Office Victoria, the records in this series were maintained as part of the RCH Archives. They were part of RCH accession number 2002/003 and 2003/0001.