A case of sudden death due to pyrexia of unknown origin: Proved to be a case of ards through autopsy and histopathology -reporting of an unusual case

Pyrexia of unknown origin is a vexing problem to most of the clinicians. In some of the cases, the condition of the patient fails to improve despite sincere attempts of the clinician and the supporting staffs. The situation is gloomier in inadequate infrastructure of subdivision and district-level government health set-ups. The situation gets worse if the patient dies unfortunately which more often than not put the overburdened physician to the violence of aggrieved patient parties. In the present reporting, one such case of unexplained and sudden death was referred for medico-legal autopsy on demand of the aggrieved relatives of the patient. A complaint of medical negligence was recorded in the local police station by the patient party against the treating physician. The gross morphological findings at autopsy pointed towards a multi-organ septic disorder as a probable cause of death. Post mortem histopathological study established acute respiratory distress syndrome as the cause of death and reiterated the importance of autopsy histopathology.