THE DEPLORABLE STATE OF THE EXTERNAL EXAM INATION OF THE DECEASED IN GERMANY

During the external examination of the deceased, the doctor has to cer tify, among other things, the cause of death and the manner of death. Often, the doctor cannot cope with the ascertainment of the cause of d eath, the rate of misdiagnosis being therefore only a little below 50% . Decision-making in public health based upon such statistics is there fore irresponsible. Also, the classification of the manner of death sh ows serious deficiencies, the error rates ranging between 10% and 95% depending on the subcategory. Generally, the proportion of natural dea ths is much too high and the grey area of undiscovered homicides is es timated to be high. Among other things, the classification of unnatura l death must now be explained, and the priority of the law authorities for the elucidation of unnatural death has been replaced by natural d eaths. The aim of the new procedure seems to lie in a further decrease in unsolved unnatural deaths, rather than in an improvement. The resp onsibility for any deterioration is more obviously with the doctor.