Proposal of the Autopsy Guideline for Infectious Diseases: Preparation for the Post-COVID-19 Era

Korean J Leg Med 2020;44:54-75

Institute of Forensic and Anthropological Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea,

Department of Forensic Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea,

Department of Forensic Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea

E-mail: veritas@jnu.ac.kr

With the rapidly spreading coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic over the past few months, the world is facing an unprecedented crisis. Innumerable lives have been lost to this novel infectious disease, the nature of which supersedes conventional medical understanding. People around the world are sacrificing their daily lives and enduring the crisis regardless of national boundaries and cultural backgrounds. The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a global health crisis, several aspects of life in the post-COVID-19 era are also being contemplated. Experts in unison are warning that the upcoming changes in all areas of life could potentially be far more drastic than ever experienced in the entire human civilization. The medical community is no exception, and therefore, personnel involved in forensic medicine also need to be adequately prepared for the future. Forensic medicine is a branch of medicine dedicated to one of the most important stages of the human lifecycle and has always been at the forefront in times of unprecedented social change. We present new autopsy guidelines in forensic medicine, formulated based on the various infectious diseases that we presently live with and may encounter in the future. In formulation of these guidelines several considerations have been taken into account, namely, the role forensic pathologists should play in the post-COVID-19 era and the necessary preparations as well as the support needed from society to fulfill that role. The present COVID-19 outbreak should be a starting point for formulating improvements in current practices in forensic science, including autopsy biosafety practices and the medicolegal death investigation system.

Key Words: Autopsy; Infectious disease; Guideline; COVID-19; Forensic medicine