Profile of Medicolegal Autopsies at a Tertiary Centre in Bhavnagar Region

Abstract

Background: The profiling of medico-legal cases is necessary in order to prevent the preventable  casualties in future and to study the genuine crime rate in the area. Nowadays, road traffic accidents  cause most of the casualties, which lead to many deaths. Materials and Methodology: This was a  retrospective, record-based study of postmortems performed at the Medico-legal Centre of a tertiary  health care centre in Bhavnagar region, Gujarat, in the year of 2017. During this period, a total of  1057 autopsy cases were conducted. Results: A total of 1057 cases were brought for medicolegal  postmortem examination of which, maximum number of autopsies, 101(9.6%), were conducted in  May, followed by 100 (9.5%) in October. Males predominated the females, 729 (69%) cases.Maximum number of cases, 257 (24.3%), were in the age group of 21–30 years. Accidental injury  related deaths were more in number, 280 (26.5%). Natural deaths accounted for 245 (23.2%) cases,  violent asphyxial deaths, 113 (100%) cases, and thermal injury accounted for 190 (17.7%) cases,  followed by the poisoning 170(16.08%) cases. Conclusion: It was observed that the most common  cause of death is road traffic accident, probably owing to higher frequency of transportation..