[Dutch guideline 'Post-mortem examination for attending doctors' ready at last].

- The central theme of the guideline 'Post-mortem examination for attending doctors' is that the primary aim of the post-mortem examination is not to ascertain death as such, but to investigate whether the person died of natural or unnatural causes.- The guideline gives indications for the content of the post-mortem in order to make this differentiation reliable.- Only in cases of natural death is the attending doctor permitted to fill in a death certificate. - In cases of possible unnatural death where a crime or an imputable act may have been committed, a municipal coroner should be called in. - Post-mortem should be carried out as quickly as possible after notification, with the exception of nocturnal deaths in nursing homes, or comparable care institutions, when this decease is expected.