Medico-Legal Update

Fetal autopsy helps to arrive at an accurate diagnosis in case of fetal demise. It also enables the clinician to assess the recurrence risk of an adverse maternal outcome and thereby, provide proper genetic counselling to the affected parents. Despite the emergence of many advanced imaging techniques, many studies suggest that fetal autopsy holds its ground as the standard way to interpret the cause of fetal death. The procedure and guidelines followed for fetal autopsy play a great role in influencing the outcome. Hence, the protocol for a fetal autopsy is being described in this article. This article highlights the types of fetal perinatal autopsy; the legal prerequisites for a medicolegal and academic autopsy; the standard procedure of a fetal autopsy; and the comparison of efficacy of imaging techniques and autopsy to make a diagnosis of the cause of fetal loss, still birth and neonatal death.