Respecte-t-on les recommandations européennes sur la réalisation des autopsies médicolégales dans la région Languedoc-Rousillon en 2012Â ?

Forensic autopsy is the gold standard for determining the cause and manner of death and there are multiple international recommendations and guidelines on the indications of forensic autopsy. The goal of this work was to verify whether the recommendations of the European Council of Europe for Forensic Autopsy where enforced in the area of the medicolegal institute of Montpellier, a region which is divided in 4 “departments” or counties. Over a period of one month, we collected all deaths published in the only regional newspaper Midi Libre, which should have had a forensic autopsy performed according to the European Council recommendations. This journal is quite reliable for reporting all suspect death investigated by police forces in the area of our study. The number of autopsies per 100,000 people between May 2011 and July 2012 was twice as high when the death occurred in the department of Herault (where Montpellier, the only forensic autopsy center is located) when compared to the three other departments. Distance seemed to be the only explicative factor for this difference. Only 32% of the 49 deaths recorded between 25/07 and 24/08/2012, and requiring an autopsy according to European recommendations were autopsied at the medico-legal institute of Montpellier. Sudden deaths and transport accidents were the least respected theoretical guidance. Cases autopsied were statistically younger (29 ± 15 versus 45 ± 25 years, P < 0.01). As this study shows that as our judicial system does not follow the European recommendations, a clear French legislation, which is still absent, is needed to have a rational attitude towards forensic autopsy indications.