Fälschliche Todesfeststellung durch Fehler bei der ärztlichen Leichenschau

The first aim of a medical postmortem examination is to determine death with certainty. This in turn requires knowledge of the development and timing of certain signs of death. Influencing factors such as previous illnesses, cause of death or the situation at the place of discovery can affect the degree of certain signs of death and make it more difficult to verify certain signs of death. The basic prerequisite for determining certain signs of death is careful and correct performance of the postmortem examination. Particularly in cases where hypothermia is present, the result of an incorrectly performed postmortem examination can result in a false positive certification of certain death. Two cases of apparent death with incorrect determination of death are presented and the causes are discussed in the context of an incorrectly performed postmortem examination.