Challenging the authority of the autopsy in coronial investigations

The central purpose of this chapter is to address the tension between legal and medical discourses within the coronial/medico-legal system. In the context of a death investigation, medical expertise, manifest through the knowledge gained in an internal autopsy, is positioned as contributing the more valuable facts of the case, especially when contrasted with the evidence gathered at the scene of the death. We challenge this taken for granted understanding of medical knowledge in three ways: first, we examine the aspects of the history, philosophy and consequences of the processes by which the medical model gained its current dominance; second, we challenge the assumption that internal autopsy adds value to the death investigation, by utilising data from our own research in Australia; and finally, we engage with the debate about the purpose of a coronial/medico-legal investigation and role of an internal autopsy within that system.