Korean J Leg Med.  2017 Aug;41(3):67-72. 10.7580/kjlm.2017.41.3.67.

The Statistical Analysis on the Postmortem Inspection Cases of National Forensic Service Seoul Institute in 2016

• Won YJ
• Park JW
• Choi SG
• Aum N
• Kim DY
• Seo WJ
• Choi SW
• Lee MJ
• Yu MY
• Park JP
• Choi M
• Kim SH
• Lee SK
• Yun WJ
• Kim YH
• Kim YS
• Park SH
• Kim JH
• Yoo SH
• Lee SD
• Gim JY
• Yang KM
• Lee HY
• Choi YS

• KMID: 2389516
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2017.41.3.67

Abstract

From January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016, a total of 1147 postmortem inspection cases in Area 8, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (Gangseo, Yangcheon, and Guro police stations) were statistically analyzed. Autopsies were performed in 205 cases (17.9%), and the autopsy rates were 17.6% (75/426 cases) in the Gangseo police station, 9.5% (34/357 cases) in the Yangcheon police station, and 24.3% (82/337 cases) in the Guro police station. For 288 cases with an unknown cause of death, the autopsy rates were 70.0% (60/87 cases) in the Gangseo police station, 28.6% (26/91 cases) in the Yangcheon police station, and 63.1% (65/103 cases) in the Guro police station. For 65 cases due to fall from height, the autopsy rate was 7.7% (n=5). Of the 187 cases due to hanging, 155 cases were classified as suicide at the scene with a 4.5% (n=7) autopsy rate and 32 cases were classified as an undetermined manner of death at the scene with a 15.6% (n=5) autopsy rate. The distribution of the "manner of death" was natural death, 45% (n=516); unnatural death, 29.9% (n=343); and other and undetermined, 25.1% (n=288). Proportions of dispatch times were 50.9% (584 cases) during work hours (09:00-18:00), 13.8% (n=158) during evening hours (18:00-21:00), 13.4% (n=154) at night (21:00-00:00), 11% (n=126) at dawn (00:00-06:00), and 10.9% (n=125) during morning hours (06:00-09:00). The male-to-female ratio was 1.86:1 (746:401). These statistics are valuable for the evaluation of postmortem inspections by experts.

Keyword

Postmortem inspection; Autopsy rate; Cause of death; Statistics

MeSH Terms

Autopsy
Cause of Death
Humans
Police
Seoul*
Suicide

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