Death certificate and diagnosis of violent death
Malicier, D.
La Revue du Praticien 52(7): 719-722
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-2640 PMID: 12032956 Document Number: 545167
Many crimes go by unpunished, be it due to the disappearance of the cadaver, or a skillful cover-up on the part of the perpetrator. Thus, the crime can be masked as an accident, a suicide, or even a natural death. In France, the writing of the death certificate confers to the doctor, an important role in their unravelling. This role rests solely on a systematic approach consisting of alerting all violent deaths, sudden deaths and suspicious deaths to the coroner's office. The coroner decides whether to hold a medico-legal autopsy according to the various facts carried to his attention.