ABSTRACT
There are several circumstances in relation to fetal deaths, still births and deaths in early life when an investigation is likely to fall within the remit of a coroner, a procurator fiscal or a medical examiner. These include concealment of pregnancy; unattended delivery, with or without abandonment of the newborn infant; and suspected infanticide. The size of the problem is difficult to assess, although the number of infanticides (neonaticides) has fallen in some jurisdictions, as has the number of maternal fatalities attributable to criminal abortion, probably for similar reasons.1 Nevertheless, abandoned fetuses and infants are still discovered in a variety of circumstances. Fetal death following maternal injury, sudden fetal death and those fetal deaths in which the attendant midwife or obstetrician is unable to complete a still birth certificate also require formal investigation in some jurisdictions.2
