Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:Clinical and forensic autopsies have an overlapping role towards each other

Clinical and forensic autopsies have an overlapping role towards each other

• Postmortem examination of a dead body is carried out to gain insight of anatomy and pathology of corpse and close examination of the injuries, marks of weapon or disease process and it is important for forensic application of medical knowledge.
• Whether it is a clinical/pathological or forensic, autopsy is nothing but the medical study of a dead body and is carried out to enhance clinical findings and its correlation with patient clinical manifestation during the treatment or understanding some unrevealed aspect of disease/diagnose the disease, which has caused the mortality when antemortem efforts have failed or the autopsy/disease process in situ. These findings may be simultaneously used for medicolegal purpose.
• The procedure of both the autopsies is same; the autopsy conducted by a forensic expert in cases of sudden/unexpected/unexplained death is nothing but a pure clinical autopsy.

The opinion expressed on the basis of a clinical autopsy is examined or cross examined in departmental/institutional peer review as the findings and opinion after a forensic autopsy has to withstand the acid test of cross examination by the defense lawyer/prosecutor and judges on circumstantial evidences available before honorable court