Cardio respiratory arrest: A medico-legal dilemma

There is an indiscriminate practice among the doctors to give the immediate and direct cause of death as cardio-respiratory arrest which does not seem to be justified reason in course of law and in medicolegal perspectives. Cardio-respiratory arrest is infact a possible mechanism of death. From a medical stand point, the mechanism of death is that pathophysiological derangement which is incompatible with life. Since most physicians are to think in terms of mechanism of disease processes, it is frequent to find the mechanism of death confused with or used in place of cause of death. Consequently, the mechanism of death has more than one possible etiology and therefore reflect a pathophysiologic process, i.e., final common pathway of diverse causes, consequently such terms (Cardio-respiratory arrest) are generally meaningless on a death certificate unless followed by a appropriate cause. The present study is an attempt to highlight those pitfalls involved in declaring Cardio-respirqtory arrest as a cause of death within medicolegal perspective.