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Coming to terms with a loved one's death can be difficult and this has prompted one British council to offer bereaved families digital autopsies for free.

A £1.2 million facility offering digital post-mortem examinations at no cost is the first of its kind and will open at the end of November.

It will allow pathologists to conduct fully analyse dead bodies using a computer mouse instead of a scalpel and the results will be made available almost immediately.

A new £1.2million facility, offering free digital post mortems is the first of its kind and will open at the end of November. It will allow pathologists to conduct full post mortems using a computer mouse instead of a scalpel and the results will be made available quickly. A scan of a body taken by an autopsy scanner is shown

In order to carry out the high-tech autopsy, the body must be scanned. Afterwards, using date form the CT scan, visualisation software creates a 3D image that can be manipulated on a computer screen.

The process means that grieving families can understand a loved one's cause of death without the need for a traditional post-mortem examination.

The technology was created by iGene in Malaysia. The first UK centre was opened in Sheffield last year, but now Sandwell Council has said it will offer the service to families for free from November, at Sandwell Valley Crematorium, in West Bromwich in the West Midlands.

In order to do the high tech autopsy, the body must be scanned. The CT scanner is pictured. Afterwards, visualisation software creates a 3D image that can be manipulated on a computer screen

The process of the digital autopsy means that grieving families can understand a loved one's cause of death without the need for a traditional post mortem. A scan of a clothed body is shown. It is possible to pick out clothing details such as buttons as well as bones such as the ribs and internal organs such as lungs

The authority is offering to pick up the £500 tab for all residents who want a digital autopsy - as long as the deceased lived in the borough.

'It's distressing enough to lose a loved one, but to then find out that a post-mortem [examination] is necessary can be extremely upsetting,' said Mahboob Hussain, Sandwell Council's deputy leader councillor.

'The digital autopsy is non-invasive and the results are available quickly, which is going to be of real comfort to grieving families.

'We're proud to be the first council in the country to work with the private sector to offer this service free of charge to residents.

'I feel it's only right that bereaved families in Sandwell have the option to choose this incredible new technology without worrying about the extra cost.' 

The computer software allows a pathologist to conduct a full, non-invasive digital post mortem using a computer mouse instead of a scalpel. They can manipulate the scanned image to get different views of a person's body. This view shows the bones and internal organs of a person, without any skin

'The digital autopsy is non-invasive and the results are available quickly, which is going to be of real comfort to grieving families,' said Mahboob Hussain, Sandwell Council's deputy leader councillor. Two images showing the sort of images available using the service are pictured

Professor Peter Gaines, consultant radiologist for iGene, said that families using its existing sites in Yorkshire are already successfully avoiding a traditional post mortem.

'We have scanned a number of cases at our Sheffield and Bradford sites, some referred by the coroners and others by families coming to us directly for peace of mind,' he said.

'We have been able to quickly establish the cause of death and allow the body to be released to the family for burial untouched.

'Digital Autopsy stands to revolutionise centuries old post mortem practices, treating the dead with the same respect as the living and taking away one additional source of much anguish for their bereaved family.'

iGene is in discussions with a further 14 local authorities to open further centres across the UK.

Their £3million facility which opened in Sheffield last year was the first of a £50million network of centres that will be operational across Britain by the end of 2015.