Calling for advice: Aspects of telephonic consultation in post-mortem examinations

Research on telephonic consultation in forensic medicine is scarce. This study aimed to create insight in different aspects of telephonic consultation in post-mortem examinations. Besides, the accuracy of advice given by forensic physicians and associations between accuracy and characteristics of forensic physicians were evaluated.

A descriptive, retrospective study was conducted. Data were obtained from the electronic information system used by the department of forensic medicine in Amsterdam. Cases in which telephonic advice was given, with regard to post-mortem examinations, were identified and the accuracy of advice was appraised. Questionnaires were distributed among forensic physicians in order to obtain information about characteristics of physicians. Hence, associations of these characteristics and accuracy of advice were to be revealed.

A total of 938 cases were included. Telephonic advice was most often requested by hospitals (n = 359, 38.3%), followed by general practices (n = 273, 29.1%) and nursing homes (n = 144, 15.4%). Incorrect advice was given significantly more often in cases regarding manner of death compared to other categories of consultation (n = 104 of 110, 94.5%, p < 0.001). Among the forensic physicians, 27.3% (six out of 22) were responsible for 60.9% (67 out of 110 cases) of the cases wherein incorrect advice was given. After correction for dependency of observations, no associations were found between characteristics of physicians or time of consultation and accuracy of advice.

This study indicates that education concerning post-mortem external examinations is needed for both consulting parties as well as forensic physicians.