Citation

Brandt-Casadevall C, Krompecher T, Giroud C, Mangin P. Sci. Justice 2003; 43(1): 41-43.

Affiliation

Institut universitaire de Médecine légale, Bugnon 21, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Forensic Science Society, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S1355-0306(03)71739-0

PMID

12744004

Abstract

A case report describing the suicide of a physician classified initially as a natural death. Faced with the vehement protest of the family of the deceased the magistrate decided to request a 'preventive' forensic autopsy. Forensic investigations revealed the cause of death as being a pentobarbital intoxication and the circumstances favoured the hypothesis of a genuine suicide. This case illustrates that the tendency of magistrates to request or not an autopsy is related to their experience or intuition.

Language: en