Citation

Gill JR, Scordi-Bello IA. J. Forensic Sci. 2010; 55(1): 77-81.

Affiliation

New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner and Department of Forensic Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01227.x

PMID

20002277

Abstract

We retrospectively analyzed 100 deaths because of suspicions and concerns expressed by the family. We compared the preautopsy cause of death, as determined by a thorough review of the clinical data and circumstances, to the autopsy-derived cause of death. In the majority (91/100), the preautopsy and postautopsy proximate causes of death were in agreement. In 9%, the autopsy provided information that resulted in a proximate cause of death different than anticipated. In four instances, the manner of death also was incorrect and was determined to be an accident rather than the originally presumed natural. No homicide or suicide would have been misclassified. In another nine instances, where the premortem and postmortem proximate causes of death were in agreement, the autopsy provided a specific mechanism of death. With a quality initial medicolegal death investigation, a subset of sudden deaths in adults may be reliably certified without an autopsy.

Language: en