Ordnungswidrigkeiten bei Leichenschau und Ausstellen der Todesbescheinigung. Erfahrungen eines Großstadtgesundheitsamtes

Viehoever, S.; Peschel, O.; Graw, M. und Gleich, S. (2019): Ordnungswidrigkeiten bei Leichenschau und Ausstellen der Todesbescheinigung. Erfahrungen eines Großstadtgesundheitsamtes. In: Rechtsmedizin, Bd. 29, Nr. 2: S. 110-116

Abstract

BackgroundThe burial and post-mortem examination laws (Bavarian BestG and Bavarian BestV) regulate how an external examination of a corpse has to be conducted and how adeath certificate has to be completed. Failure to comply with these regulations may lead to administrative offence proceedings. Acomprehensive survey on how these are handled by the health authorities and how often such proceedings are initiated has not yet been conducted.Material and methodsThe official correspondence related to death certificates issued in Munich between 2015 and 2017 was retrospectively analyzed by the municipal public health and environment department of Munich (RGU).ResultsBetween 2015 and 2017 the RGU received an average of 13,630 death certificates per year and administrative offence proceedings were initiated in 34cases (0.08%), which is 1 in 1250 death certificates. The reasons were an incorrect external examination of a corpse, failure to notify the police/district attorney in cases of unnatural or unclear manner of death or certifying anatural death although an unclear or unnatural manner of death would have been correct.DiscussionData from asurvey by apublic health department of amajor city are now available which show the causes and the number of administrative offence proceedings based on the burial and post-mortem examination laws. These administrative offence proceedings concerned failures to comply with the regulations concerning the external examination of a corpse, where failures were often not noticed and therefore not brought to the attention of the police or health authorities. Proceedings also concerned the failure to notify the police/district attorney in cases of unnatural or unclear manner of death or afalsely certified natural manner of death: this subgroup was proportionately the largest.ConclusionRegular educational measures offered to doctors performing the external examinations of corpses would help to avoid major mistakes leading to administrative offence proceedings.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 0937-9819
• Sprache: Deutsch