Die Qualität der ärztlichen Leichenschau bei fraglich iatrogenen Todesfällen in Krankenhäusern im Einzugsgebiet des Instituts für Rechtsmedizin der Universität Kiel

Translated title of the contribution: Quality of external postmortem examinations of corpses for questionable iatrogenic fatalities in hospitals in the catchment area of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Kiel University

J. Preuß-Wössner*, J. Spieß, C. Meißner, E. Lignitz

*Corresponding author for this work
4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Issues of external examination of corpses have been discussed in Germany for many years, but structural changes are yet to be initiated. Only in Bremen und Frankfurt on the Main first steps have been taken to improve the quality of the external examination of corpses. Differences between external examination of a corpse and the following autopsy were detected in important studies. The aim of our study was to determine the amount of differences between an external examination of a corpse and the results of the autopsy in iatrogenic fatalities. Included in our study were only questionable iatrogenic fatalities of the catchment area of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Kiel University. In all, 148 cases from the years 2009–2014 were entered into the study. In 1/3 of our cases, a complication of a medical treatment leading to death was not detected by clinical doctors. Bleedings were the most undetected complication. Overall, the result of the external examination of a corpse matched the autopsy in 61,5% of the cases. Therefore, in questionable iatrogenic fatalities an autopsy is strongly recommended, especially in cases involving a legal dispute.

Translated title of the contributionQuality of external postmortem examinations of corpses for questionable iatrogenic fatalities in hospitals in the catchment area of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Kiel University
Original languageGerman
JournalRechtsmedizin
Volume28
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)389-397
Number of pages9
ISSN0937-9819
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.10.2018

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