In the light of the preface of the books on Forensic Medicine, the historical process of Forensic Medicine

Abstract

As per prevalent view to determine cause of death in decomposed body is not rewarding in most of the cases but in our study we have determined cause of death in 30 cases out of 58 cases. Despite technical difficulties in handling the body and artifactual alteration of the tissue, the decomposed body may still reveal cause of death in significant number of cases. Fifty eight medico legal autopsies of decomposed bodies were conducted by us at M.G.M. Medical College, Indore, M.P. over twenty months study period from February 2012 to September 2013, Male (67.24%) predominance was seen in decomposed bodies with male female ratio of 2.44: 1. Maximum contribution by adult's 86.21% age group between 18 to 60 years followed by juvenile less than 18 years age group in 6.90% cases and least number of cases were seen in old age more than 60 years age group in 3.45% of Cases. Decomposition pattern categorized and 39.66% cases were in advance stage of decomposition followed by 37.93% cases was in moderate stage and least number 22.41% cases were found in early stage. The cause of death was ascertained in 51.72% of cases. Asphyxia (36.67%) was the commonest cause of death in decomposed bodies followed by cranio-cerebral damage in 30% of cases. Most of the decomposed bodies were found in summer season (65.52%) followed by rainy season in 25.86% of cases. Very few numbers of studies are available about decomposed body in available literatures.