VPRS 7432 Post Mortem Registers

Full description

This series records the results of post mortems on inmates from Kew Asylum and Children's Cottages, Kew.

Cases are arranged chronologically by date of post mortem. The names of patients and age at death is recorded.

Units 1-19 provide a recent care history of patient leading up to death. This is in chronological order and provides some observations about the patients condition. This information is taken from Case Books (prior to 1912) and from Clinical Notes (after 1912). This office holds few of this latter series.

Units 1-19 also contain a pathology report on the weight of major organs and the length of the body.

Unit 20-24 case histories and pathologist reports are discontinued.

Each page is divided into set fields in which the doctor performing the post mortem would record the following information:

clinical diagnosis,
general appearance (of the body)
circulatory system,
respiratory system and pleura,
alimentary system and peritoneum,
excretory and generative system,
nervous systems,
and cause of death.

In some cases the doctor provided diagrams of unusual features such as skull shape. Certain volumes also contain:

family trees (for signs of familiar symptoms),
photographs of patients & organs,
correspondence,
cuttings and notes.

An inquest paper including a deposition of a witness is included within the pages of unit 24.