7. Suspected Medico legal Cases Turned out to Be Real Medical Cause of Death
Ejaz Ahmed Awan1, Pardeep Kumar1 and Abrar-ul-Hasnain Memon2
ABSTRACT
Objective: The purpose behind this study was to determine the real medical cases among all autopsies performed on the basis of suspected medico legal cases at Peoples Medical College Hospital, Nawabshah, and Sindh, Pakistan.
Study Design: Prospective observational study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Forensic Medicine, tertiary care Peoples Medical College Hospital Nawabshah Sindh Pakistan. From January 2014 to December 2018.
Materials and Methods: The prospective observational study has been conducted through a convenience sampling technique on autopsied 134 males and females between the periods of four years from 2014 to 2018 to observe the real medical cause of death such as cardiovascular or cereberovascular to fill the statistical gap present at our area of a tertiary care Peoples Medical College Hospital, Nawabshah, Sindh, Pakistan. Ethical consent was taken from family member and hospital before doing autopsy and use of its findings for study purpose. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the objective specific data and we used SPSS version 21 for data entry and analysis.
Results: Our study has male predominance (77.61%, N = 104 / 134) with more autopsied were performed in rural areas (85.52, N = 115 / 134). The mean age of the autopsied performed was 41.31 ± 13.51 years and the age ranges between 20 to 60 years. The prevalence of medical cause of death was 60.44% (N = 81 / 132). The most common cause of death was due to cardiovascular disease (69.13%, N = 56 / 81) and cereberovascular disease (20.98%, N = 17 / 81).
Conclusion: Besides medico legal causes of deaths ascertained during autopsy, the burden of actual medical causes of deaths which were suspected as medico legal cases impose a huge burden. Hence, suspected medico legal cases most often turned out to be actual medical cause of death that our study findings have shown.
Key Words: Autopsy findings, Medical Cause of Death, Pakistan
Citation of article: Awan EA, Kumar P, Memon AH. Suspected Medico legal Cases Turned out to Be Real Medical Cause of Death. Med Forum 2019;30(11):24-26.