Abstract

NEVADO MONTERO, JJ.. Medical action after the death (certification of the death or judicialization of the death): legal consequences. Cuad. med. forense [online]. 2018, vol.24, n.1-2, pp.50-54.  Epub Sep 21, 2020. ISSN 1988-611X.

When the doctor verifies the death of a person, he must determine the origin and the cause of it, a task that has legal, sanitary, social, economic and ethical repercussions, since he will have to discern between the communication to the person in charge of the civil registry, in the case of natural deaths, or the prosecution of the corpse if the death is violent or suspicious of criminality.

This aspect is of concern for many professionals, because in certain occasions it will be difficult to establish the origin of death, and consequences may arise both for the doctor, who may be immersed in administrative or procedural procedures, and for family members, who may be deprived of the possibility of knowing the true cause of death (important, for example, in civil liability claims for medical malpractice), or increase their pain with the improper judicialization of the corpse.

Keywords : Certificate; Death; Autopsy; Violent death.

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