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[Determination of death and post-mortem examination on the high seas]
Claas T Buschmann1, Michael Tsokos
1Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
Insights
Determining death at sea is challenging without a physician. This study presents a provisional death certificate and post-mortem examination algorithm for medical laymen on ships to ensure accurate death determination and proper corpse handling.
Area of Science:
- Maritime Medicine
- Forensic Pathology
Context:
- Deaths on ocean-going vessels present unique challenges, particularly in commercial shipping where physicians are often unavailable.
- Medical laymen, such as ship captains and officers, must determine death and conduct preliminary examinations.
Purpose:
- To provide a standardized "Provisional Certificate of Death on the High Seas" for documenting death determination.
- To introduce an algorithm for performing and documenting external post-mortem examinations by non-medical personnel at sea.
Summary:
- The presented tools offer concrete procedural instructions for medical laymen to definitively determine death.
- These guidelines facilitate a preliminary external post-mortem examination and ensure forensic-compliant corpse storage until port arrival.
Impact:
- Enhances the ability of ship crews to manage death determination and preliminary forensic procedures in remote maritime environments.
- Ensures proper handling of deceased individuals, bridging the gap until professional medical and forensic services can take over.
Abstract:
Usually death has to be determined by a physician. Deaths on board of ocean-going vessels confront the crew with special challenges, as on the high seas--especially in the container and cargo ship business--often no physician will be available and death has to be determined by medical laymen such as the captain or the medical officer. To document the determination of death, a "Provisional Certificate of Death on the High Seas" is presented. Moreover, an algorithm "Provisional Post-Mortem Examination on the High Seas" is presented to document the results and the practical performance of the external post-mortem examination by medical laymen on a ship. With the help of concrete procedural instructions medical laymen on board of sea-going vessels are to be enabled to determine the death of a human being beyond doubt, to perform a preliminary external post-mortem examination and to store the corpse according to forensic requirements until the ship reaches a port and the body is delivered to the harbour physician.
