Establishment of Cause of Death in Buried Dead Bodies: An Exhumation Based Study

The word exhumation literally means digging out of a buried body. The very purpose of the exhumation is to establish identity of the deceased or to know the cause of death or both especially when there is conflict before the law.

The purpose of the study is to know how far the cause of death can be determined in exhumed bodies in relation to time of burial and positive opinion regarding the cause of death in addition to other ancillary parameters.

The current prospective study was conducted over a period of 3 and half years from January 2003 to June 2006 at Gandhi Medical College, Secunderabad and include a total of 34 cases were studied. Standard methods were used for recording as well as analysis of data.

cause of death could be opined in about 60% of exhumed bodies and opinion could not be given in eleven cases. Head injury is the leading cause of death with 8 (24%) followed by asphyxia with 4(12%).

The cause of death could be arrived at exhumation with a reasonable accuracy in the early periods and the feasibility of assessing cause of death will gradually decrease with increase in time since burial. It is suggested to follow standard protocol and procedures are required to increase the chances of establishing cause of death at exhumation.