Pattern of death in unknown bodies at a tertiary healthcare centre

AUTHOR(s) : Chikhalkar Bhalchandra G1 , Nadkarni Nitish A2 , Chavan Gajanan S3 , Nanandkar Sudhir D4
DOI No. : 10.31741/ijhrmlp.v4.i2.2018.16

ABSTRACT :
Identity of an individual plays an important role in life as well as death. It becomes a difficult task for even a seasoned forensic expert to establish the identity of the unknown/unclaimed body. Aims: The current study was undertaken in order to establish the parameters to study the cause/ manner of death in unknown/ unidentified individuals.Methods: Documents like the ADR report, Inquest, Panchnama provided by the police were scrutinized thoroughly. Data was analyzed using MS Excel 2013 software. The reasons which lead to a lapse of judgment on the part of the forensic expert or the investigating officer such as foetuses, mutilated or decomposed bodies, body parts are also analyzed in this study. Results: It was observed that out of the 7.6% unknown cases, most cases were in the 31-40 years age bracket, with male predominance seen especially in the month of August. Respiratory illness was the cause of most of the natural deaths, while Head Injury was the leading cause of unnatural deaths.Conclusions: We feel a web based interactive tracking application is unequivocally essential to bridge the time gap between the Investigating Officer and the Forensic Expert. In addition, the inter-sectoral co- ordination of medicine and law enforcement agencies may play a crucial role in a smooth functioning of finding the identity of the individual.

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