@article{ref1,
title="Autopsy before cremation--formality without efficacy?",
journal="Archiv für Kriminologie",
year="1998",
author="Brinkmann, B. and Karger, B. and Barz, J. and Kleiber, M. and Schröpfer, D. and Staak, M.",
volume="201",
number="5-6",
pages="129-136",
abstract="A multicentre study involving 36 out of 38 German medico-legal Institutes discovered 784 non-natural fatalities among 78,000 external examinations before cremation (1%) in 1995. These included 169 accidents, 16 suicides, 3 homicides and 589 deaths in connection with medical treatment. In the remaining 7 cases, a belated differentiation between homicide and accident was not successful. A linear projection results in 1980 non-natural fatalities among all 197,000 external examinations before cremation. This number includes 8 homicides but due to considerable inhomogeneities, a number of 40 homicides appears to be realistic. Consequently, abolishing the mandatory external examination before cremation would be equivalent to an official renouncement of solving relevant non-natural deaths. In case of a thorough external examination, a total of 18,000 non-natural fatalities including approximately 180 homicides could be detected per year during the first external examinations (n = 885,000).<p /><p>Language: de</p>",
language="de",
issn="0003-9225",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}