Medicolegal (Forensic)

I. Overview

A. One of the most important facts that must be recognized by pathologists is that hospital autopsies and medicolegal autopsies differ in many important respects.
B. Competency in hospital autopsy performance does not necessarily equate to competency in medicolegal autopsy performance.
C. Understanding the important differences between hospital and medicolegal autopsies is essential in being able to recognize cases that should be handled as medicolegal cases. In certain instances, hospital pathologists might wish to refer the case to someone with more forensic expertise.
D. It is also important to recognize that, depending on the jurisdiction and the type of medicolegal death investigation system, a local, hospital-based, nonforensic pathologist might be considered by all persons involved (including police) as the person with the most expertise in forensic pathology. As such, all pathologists should be aware of the basic requirements and expectations when performing medicolegal autopsies.
E. Following a brief synopsis of some more general differences between hospital and medicolegal autopsies and a discussion of when a hospital autopsy is recognized as a medicolegal autopsy, the remainder...