Autopsy is a medical diagnostic act that checks or confirms the clinical diagnosis and also records the efficiency of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
Along with the corpses of deceased adults, corpses of miscarried and stillborn children from University Hospital Graz are transferred to Autopsy. Any child born after 13 weeks of pregnancy is recorded and subject to a coroner's inquest and if necessary an autopsy. In the event of a medically indicated abortion, this indication must be independently confirmed by the pathology department.
Other state hospitals and private clinics also send miscarried or stillborn children to the institute's pediatric pathology lab so that a special examination can be conducted to clarify the cause of death.
In addition to the autopsy, imaging procedures and molecular pathology test methods are also employed to provide the submitters with high-quality results.
The Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology was significantly involved in establishing a collective funeral for miscarried and stillborn children in Styria and is the collection point for Graz, Graz Umgebung, East Styria and West Styria.
Miscarried and stillborn children after 13 weeks of pregnancy must have a funeral. This funeral can be conducted by the family (at their own expense). An individual funeral is possible in any week of pregnancy (also before 13 weeks).
If the family does not make any arrangements for an individual funeral, miscarried and stillborn children between 13 weeks and 40 weeks (due date) in Styria may receive a collective funeral. The children are buried together and the cost is covered by the federal state of Styria and the municipalities.
The children in Upper Styria are collected in the Leoben Pathology Division for preparation. In Graz and its surroundings and Eastern, Southern and Western Styria, the Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology at the Medical University of Graz is responsible for collection. Every quarter, the collective coffin is picked up from Bestattung Judenburg or Bestattung Graz, a cremation is conducted and the urn is interred during a memorial service. The costs are covered by the federal state of Styria.
The memorial services take place at two locations in Styria: the municipal cemetery in Judenburg and the urn cemetery in Graz. They are organized by the hospice platform "Wenn Lebensanfang und Lebensende zusammenfallen" (When the Start and End of Life Coincide) in cooperation with the obstetrics divisions (hospital chaplains, midwives), the Catholic and Lutheran churches and Bestattung Judenburg and Bestattung Graz. During these memorial services, the urn with the deceased children from the previous quarter is put in its final resting place. All family members of the miscarried fetuses and stillborn children are expressly invited to these services.
The memorial services are coordinated by Beate Reiß (Tel. +43 (0)676/92 64 225, plattform@hospiz-stmk.at) from the platform "Wenn Lebensanfang und Lebensende zusammenfallen." She is available for questions and as a contact for the women who have been affected.
Live birth children
Every child who has lived (no matter how few minutes) should have a funeral just like any other deceased person. Funerals for children born alive must be arranged by the family.
