AN ANALYSIS OF MEDICOLEGAL DEATHS SEEN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN TEACHING HOSPITAL BETWEEN JANUARY 1990 AND DECEMBER 2009

Abstract

Introduction/Aim: Medicolegal autopsies are postmortem examinations performed at the
instance of the law, when a coroner or another authority is instructed to determine the cause, time
and the circumstances surrounding the cause of death. This is a retrospective study of all the
medicolegal autopsies done in the Department of Histopathology, University of Benin Teaching
Hospital (UBTH), Benin City over a 20 year period (from 1st January 1990 to 31st December
2009) with the aim of collating and analyzing all cases in order to establish a preliminary data of
all medicolegal deaths and determine the pattern of these cases.
Materials and Method: The major sources of information were the mortuary registers of the
Department of Histopathology UBTH. Also used were the duplicate copies of death certificates
and Post mortem reports of the cases. Cases were those in which full autopsies were done
following standard procedures as described in standard books and histology done where
applicable.
Results: A total of 5035 autopsies were done during the period, 89% of which were coroner
cases. Four thousand, four hundred and eighty one coroner cases representing 12.5 % of all
bodies received by the mortuary during the period were studied. The male to female ratio was
1.9: 1, with an overall mean age of 38.3 years. The ages ranged from 1 day to 101 years with a
peak incidence in the 25 – 44 years age group. A total of 553 children and 3928 adults were
involved. The commonest indication for coroner’s autopsy was sudden natural deaths which
accounted for 65.5 % of the cases. Other causes of death were accidents, homicide, suicide and
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undetermined causes representing 28.6 %, 5.0 %, 0.5 % and 0.4 % respectively. The commonest
cause of sudden natural deaths was cardiovascular diseases.
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Road traffic accidents accounted for 88.7 % of all accidental deaths. Gunshot injuries were the
main form of homicide and accounted for 69.4 %. Cases of suicide were few and the only
method identified in this study was by substance ingestion.
Conclusion: Sudden unexpected natural deaths due to complications of hypertension, road traffic
accidents and rival cult killings were responsible for most of autopsies done in UBTH. Public
enlightenment and health education about routine medical screening will help to reduce causes of
natural deaths. Good road maintenance and good driving culture as well as security for life and
property will immensely reduce the incidence of road traffic accidental deaths.