[The medical autopsy: its indications, contraindications, the modalities of its implementation, its cost and its limits. Autopsy of the medical autopsy]

Sébastien Duband; Carolyne Bidat; Fabien Forest; Jean-Michel Béraud; Franck Méjean; Jean-Marc Dumollard; Michel Péoc'h

doi:10.1016/j.annpat.2011.11.001

[The medical autopsy: its indications, contraindications, the modalities of its implementation, its cost and its limits. Autopsy of the medical autopsy]

Ann Pathol. 2012 Feb;32(1):19-32. doi: 10.1016/j.annpat.2011.11.001. Epub 2012 Jan 20.

[Article in French]

Authors

Sébastien Duband¹, Carolyne Bidat, Fabien Forest, Jean-Michel Béraud, Franck Méjean, Jean-Marc Dumollard, Michel Péoc'h

Affiliation

¹ Service de médecine légale, hôpital Bellevue, CHU de Saint-Étienne, 25, boulevard Pasteur, 42100 Saint-Etienne, France. [email protected]

PMID: 22325311
DOI: 10.1016/j.annpat.2011.11.001

Abstract

The decline of the medical autopsy, in spite of the uncontested recognition of its utility, is not to be any more proved. By summarizing the legal frame of this exceptional act, we tried to identify the indications, the contraindications, the precautions for use, the limits, the technical, legal and ethical constraints and the costs of this diagnostic and therapeutic tool. The discussion underlines that the main brake in the realization of the autopsies could be its too strict French legal frame.

Publication types

English Abstract

MeSH terms

Autopsy / economics*
Autopsy / methods
Autopsy / standards*
Costs and Cost Analysis
France
Humans