Second autopsy: The Indian scenario.

A Medico-legal autopsy is conducted to ascertain the cause of death, time of death, identification of the deceased, etc. in unnatural and/or suspicious deaths. However, the very purpose for which an autopsy is conducted may either not be served or appear to be poorly served in many a cases. In such times, another autopsy is requested and conducted on an already autopsied body commonly known as second autopsy. Rules are still unclear & varying for medico legal autopsy at different places resulting in unwarranted issues. This has resulted in a surge seen in cases of second autopsy or re-postmortem examination. With no rules governing the conduct of even a second autopsy and the sorry state of medico-legal autopsies as such in India, a lot of issues, wanted and unwanted, creep up while conduct of a second autopsy. An effort is made to draw attention towards the issues associated with the conduct of a second autopsy in India and few suggestions proposed to overcome those difficulties.

A study on appraisal of effectiveness of the MCCD scheme.

Medical Certification of Cause of Death [MCCD] scheme was proposed by WHO as an imperative tool to obtain scientific and reliable information in terms of causes of mortality. It was accepted by the Government of India with suitable incorporations made in The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969[1]. A cross sectional study was done with an objective to appraise the completeness and accuracy in filling up of these certificates as per the prescribed guidelines and subsequently assess the success of the MCCD training scheme. Information was collected on the various components of the cause of death certificate in all cases brought for autopsy over a period of two year and statistical analysis done. Results of the study reflected that there was a conflict of opinion and understanding as to the meaning of the terms „causes of death‟, „modes of death‟, and „manners of death‟ among the doctors. Extra effort needs to be put forth to educate and generate awareness regarding complete and accurate filling of the forms and to make them understand the very purpose of MCCD scheme, else it won’t serve the very purpose for which it was introduced. Also the lacunae in the scheme that exist need to be addressed.