An Autopsy Twist: Natural Hidden Beneath Unnatural

There is a general belief that most cases sent for autopsy are all sinister unnatural deaths. This, along with overburdened work, constrains of time, disinclination towards tedious detailed autopsies, has led to heavy reliance on the garbled history given by the relatives, friends or police personnel accompanying the body. A happily married, well off, young farmer had gone to the market, where he drank tea, and within minutes of doing so, collapsed and died.

He was rushed to Sri Aurobindo hospital where he was declared dead and sent for autopsy. The cause of death, from the stomach and intestinal findings and corroborating it with the history of alleged consumption of some unknown substance with tea was thought to be poisoning but examination of the heart suggested hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which on histopathology was concluded as a case of myocardial infarction. Forensic experts, many times get biased by the history given by attendants or police, which may lead to misrepresentation and hence inevitably causes mistake in the form of mislabeled opinion of cause of death as unnatural deaths. This calls for a meticulous autopsy supported by ancillary investigations.