Has violent death lost the interest of epidemiology?

Abstract

Violent deaths, usually dealt with by forensic pathologists, have a key role in reconstructing the epidemiological profile of society. Forensic pathology and its decline should therefore not be of interest only to the forensic community. Through autopsies, forensic medicine plays an essential role for controlling death and disease due to violence, hence protecting public health in its broadest sense.1 Only through autopsy and associated laboratory analyses can we thoroughly detect cause of death and even the most deceitful or unintentional or voluntary crimes, from smotherings to poisonings. Regardless, autopsies requested by prosecutors, and at times even national health services, are decreasing―not because of a decrease in crime but as the consequence of political-legal decisions too often based on the perception of forensic medicine as a discipline unable to produce tangible results in terms of contributions to justice and public health. Although it is impossible to account for the number of forensic autopsies requested in each country, the general impression is that of a decreased interest in Europe in violent and suspicious death. This has been confirmed in several articles, starting from The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Austria.2–4 Italy is no exception. In Milano, the city in Italy with the largest Italian morgue, autopsies have severely decreased in the past 20 years. From more than 1000 autopsies per year in the 1980s and 1990s, numbers have petered down to 600–700 in the 5-year period between 2014 and 2019, with a variable percentage decrease between 40% and 70%. The same can be said for the number of scene of crime investigations.

Topics & Concepts