Citation

Kumar PS, Ashok J, Sankar S, Sayiram SJA, Vasudevan AK. Sri Ramachandra J. Med. 2007; 1(2): 41-43.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Porur, Chennai (drpskr@yahoo.co.uk); University of Melbourne, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There are times when physical evidence and evidence found at autopsy does not reveal the cause and mode of death. This is known as equivocal death.. The psychological autopsy is a retrospective construction of a decedent’s life initiated to get a better understanding of his death. It is used to determine the victim’s psychological intent, using interviews and examination of documents to reconstruct the behavior, personality, lifestyle, habits and history of the victim prior to death. Psychological autopsy aids as an investigative tool which is at the outer edge of professional knowledge and practice in that it requires an application of skills, experience, and training to assess a variety of factors including the behavior, thoughts, feelings, and relationships of an individual who is deceased. There may be issues that the deceased or his or her family does not want facts to be revealed that require special handling. Hence the interviews of family members, friends, and relatives may be adequate. So the interviewer has to be flexible. The interviewer should establish mutual respect and confidence, with the informant, and ensure confidentiality and anonymity, and also obtain an informed consent before the interview. Hence one should be qualified and skilled to conduct the interview. False information also can be given due to lack of memory or it may be intentional. Suicide note, Personal documents, Medical records, school records, military records, employment records, should be carefully analyzed. With the above mentioned information, a psychological autopsy report is produced, the final conclusion depends on the accuracy of the data collected from the interviews, examination of relevant documents and other materials. Therefore the interviewee’s probabilities and limitation to science should be noted. Thus the final judgement as to the mode of death is based upon a review of all the known facts and circumstances; including the coroner’s report, forensic medical report, police reports, crime scene analyst reports, and the psychological reconstruction ,so that people may learn from the tragedy and, hopefully, be cautious and reduce the chances of similar occurrence in future. Psychological autopsy is most often used in cases of suspected suicide or homicide in an attempt to reconstruct the personal life and character of the deceased, to uncover hidden secrets that may help to give family members peace of mind and also plays a role in many legal suits, malpractice suits, insurance claims, and criminal investigations.