Introduction: the importance of timely and complete placental and autopsy reports

Poor communication, delayed communication, and failure to identify or evaluate significant placental lesions are major causes of failure to explain the cause of severe injuries in newborns. Families coping with stillbirth or a child with cerebral palsy need to have a sense that their bereavement deserves and is receiving major attention, and that a determined effort to explain the cause is being made and will be presented in a timely fashion. They are coping with long-lasting and devastating financial and emotional burdens. The obstetrician, neonatologist, and pathologist who have accepted the role of physician to these patients have a duty to cooperate as fully as they can to make those burdens as bearable as possible.