Perceptions of Relatives’ towards Medico-Legal Investigation and Forensic Autopsy: A Survey from Rural Haryana

Currently a greater emphasis is being placed on the active participation of patients and their families; it is time that the attitude and feelings of the families with regard to autopsies are investigated. Therefore present study was planned with an objective to analyze deceased family member's attitudes towards medico-legal investigation and Forensic autopsy. An additional objective was to determine factors influencing autopsy refusal by relatives of the deceased. 200 family members or relatives were selected randomly from the list of address and contact number prepared from the autopsy cases from 2010 to 2012. Data of 165 was processed and analyzed. 30.9% of the respondents had a primary level of education while 35.2% of them were illiterates. A high proportion of study subjects considered that autopsy would result in visible disfigurement of the body. Involvement of police/court (92.1%), no use in knowing the cause of death/nature of death (88.6%) and autopsy delays funeral (83.4%) were three top most causes responsible for autopsy refusal by family members or relatives of the deceased. The experience and opinions of relatives and family members can be utilized in more effective management of medico-legal cases.