Critical Appraisal of Unknown Autopsies; A Retrospective Study at Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department, KEMU, Lahore
Abstract
to determine the demography of critical unknown autopsies among unknown bodies received at department of forensic medicine and toxicology, KEMU Lahore.Methods
This retrospective study took place at Forensic medicine and Toxicology department, KEMU, during January 2019 to December 2019. All the unknown autopsy cases of both genders brought during this period were included in the study excluding the known ones.Results
The peak age of the deceased came out to be between 30 to 45 years with a conspicuous preponderance of males being observed in these cases (86.3%). Conduction of autopsy for majority of the cases was completed within 10 days of the reception of the unknown bodies. Natural death (76%) due to long standing systemic disease remained the major cause of death, while among the unnatural causes, head trauma stood on the top (7.5%). Financial cost calculated came out to be 5000 PKR per case. Majority of this population comprises of street dwellers and drug addicts coming from different areas.Conclusion
Demographic characteristics like expected age, gender and cause of death could be ruled out. Addicts and street dwellers remained the top concern amongst unknown autopsy.Keywords:
Autopsy, postmortem, Toxicology.Published
2022/06/15
Issue
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