33B.—(1) A post-mortem examination of the body of a deceased person directed by a coroner under section 33, 33A or 33C shall be made by a registered medical practitioner and he or she may do so—

(a) with the assistance of such other registered medical practitioners, or

(b) such technical or clinical assistance as may be required for the examination,

or both, as the first-mentioned registered medical practitioner considers appropriate for the examination.

(2) A post-mortem examination of the body of a deceased person under section 33, 33A or 33C shall not be made by a registered medical practitioner who had attended the deceased person within the period of 28 days before his or her death, nor shall a registered medical practitioner assist in making such an examination if he or she attended the deceased person within that period.

(3) Subsection (2) shall not apply to a registered medical practitioner who is a pathologist on the staff of, or associated with, a hospital save where the coroner considers that the conduct of such practitioner in relation to his or her attendance on the deceased person is likely to be called in question at an inquest in relation to the death of that person.]