Citation

Advenier AS, Guillard N, Alvarez JC, Martrille L, Lorin de la Grandmaison G. J. Forensic Sci. 2015; 61 Suppl 1: S154-8.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Versailles-Saint-Quentin University, AP-HP, Raymond Poincaré Hospital, Garches, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.12924

PMID

26234640

Abstract

A manner of death may be ruled undetermined by the forensic pathologist when there is insufficient information about the circumstances surrounding the death to make a ruling. The aim of our study was to retrospectively analyze a series of autopsy cases that were classified as undetermined manner of death after complete investigations. In all, 48 cases were examined. In 23 cases (48%), the cause of death was determined. The most frequent cause of death was toxic death (n = 11). More than one manner of death was deemed conceivable for most cases (n = 39). The most frequent and the most probable manner of death was accident (n = 37). Homicide was not excluded in about 23% of the cases. Our study showed that the manner of death may remain undetermined despite an established cause of death, and even when two or more conceivable causes of death are considered. Our study pointed out that undetermined manner of death covers a wide range of situations and that homicide may be underestimated.

Language: en