Nihon hōigaku zasshi = The Japanese journal of legal medicine
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Nihon Hoigaku Zasshi · Nov 2009
[Statistical investigation on cases associated with medical implication in administrative autopsy within the 23 wards of Tokyo: the role of the medical examiner system in investigation of cases associated with medical implication].
Actual circumstances of administrative autopsies which proved connections between medical implication and death had not been very clear in the past. Therefore, using the records of administrative autopsies performed from 2003 to 2005 at Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office, this study looked into the cases in which a certain level of connection between medical implication and death was proved or suspected. This study dealt with 877 cases. ⋯ However, as it handles not only deaths by medical treatment but also all the other types of unnatural deaths, the system can also deal with other social problems, for which the correct causes of death must be diagnosed initially. It is socially very unhealthy to focus only on death associated with medical implication, as other types of unnatural death could be seen as relatively less important. Therefore, it is considered that the medical examiner system is effective for investigation of a variety of unnatural death as well as cases associated with medical implication.