The chain of custody arrangement is obligatory in the following instances:
- Sudden Infant Death
- Paediatric Toxicology
- All samples where the request form indicates that a criminal act may have taken place, that are accompanied by a “chain of custody” form, or that are brought to the laboratory by law enforcement agents e.g. police doctors, police officers, environmental health officers.
In all cases of sudden unexplained death in children aged less than 16 years, the deceased is always admitted to the A&E department for investigation under the jurisdiction of the Coroner.
The Coroner may require further samples to be taken and these must also be handled to maintain specimen integrity and chain of custody assurance. A ‘Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood’ kit is available in all A&E departments, comprising of a plastic bag, which is sealable using a tamper-evident adhesive strip, containing specimen tubes, chain of evidence forms and instructions for completion.
The chain of custody forms for Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood are available below, these are to be used by clinical areas taking samples from a sudden infant death:
- Sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) Chain of evidence form for microbiology and virology specimens
- Sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) chain of evidence form for biochemistry and haematology specimens
Where a criminal act may have taken place, the chain of custody form should be used by the clinical area or law enforcement agents for all specimen types.