Post-mortem examinations requested by coroners in the southeast of the country will no longer be carried out by consultant pathologists in University Hospital Waterford from 1 January.
The Coroners Society of Ireland said this will cause distress and anguish for families who will face possible lengthy funeral delays.
It is calling for urgent action by the Health Service Executive, and the Departments of Health and Justice, which is responsible for coroner services, to resolve the issue.
Around 700 post-mortem examinations, requested by coroners in the southeast, are carried out in the morgue at the hospital each year.
As first reported in the Irish Examiner today, the CEO of University Hospital Waterford said the Department of Justice was informed about the withdrawal of services last November.
In a letter to Tipperary South TD Michael Murphy, Ben O’Sullivan said the “reasons are diverse and complex”.
In answer to his parliamentary question, Mr O’Sullivan said the hospital is “significantly understaffed” in terms of consultant pathologists, who carry out the post-mortems as independent contractors for the Department of Justice on top of “already onerous workloads”.
Mr O’Sullivan said their work is mainly diagnostic work.
In the letter he said “current HSE diagnostic workload(s) indicate a need for approx. 18 WTE surgical pathologists. This workload is growing at approx. 7-9% per annum which will require ongoing additional posts. The laboratory currently has just 6 consultants in posts with 3 more posts in recruitment”.
Mr O’Sullivan said the hospital has been unsuccessful in recruiting consultants on two previous occasions, mainly because of the “expected coroner’s post-mortem commitments on top of an extremely busy diagnostic service”.
He said this is “unsustainable” and the post-mortem exams will need to be performed elsewhere or appropriately qualified consultants will need to be sourced by the Department of Justice.
Waterford County Coroner John Goff said the situation is “appalling” and warned of delays to funerals and distress for families waiting to bury their loved ones.
Mr Goff said: “Where a coroner’s post-mortem is necessary, the deceased cannot be buried until it’s completed.”
“I met with the hospital management last week and told them the bodies are going to line up outside the mortuary because they can’t be buried,” he said.
“It’s unreal to think that that is likely to happen in Ireland at this time. It’s appalling.”
The Coroners Society of Ireland said “this unprecedented situation will leave some 700 deceased persons without post-mortem services annually and their families in a state of distress and uncertainty”.
In a statement it said, in cases where a post mortem is required, the deceased cannot be released for burial until after it has concluded and may necessitate the moving of remains of the deceased to other areas in the country.
“Each of these cases represents a grieving family who will not know when the body of their loved one will be returned to them for burial,” the society said.
It said the counties that will be affected are Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, south Tipperary and Carlow with a combined population of 625,000.
The Departments of Justice and Health, along with the HSE, have been contacted for comment.