Forensic Autopsies

There are three main categories of autopsies which include forensic, hospital, and private autopsies. A forensic autopsy should be conducted by a board-certified forensic pathologist and is done to determine the cause and manner of death in individuals who die under potential violent means or in any circumstance that could be potentially “non-natural”. Each state has guidelines or statutes that help determine which deaths need to be investigated by the medical examiner or coroner office in their jurisdiction. A forensic autopsy is done in a fairly similar fashion as other types of autopsies, but there may be certain procedures done in a forensic autopsy such as evidence collection, radiographs, toxicology testing, etc.