ABSTRACT
Voltaire said, “To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.”* ‚is is the denitive task of the medicolegal death investigator and forensic pathologist. ‚e course of the death investigation has multiple phases, including scene investigation, body assessment, medical records, and the forensic autopsy. ‚is is nalized in three documents: the death certicate, the investigator’s report, and the autopsy report. In order to understand the importance of the autopsy report, and how to interpret it, the legal investigator should understand how all the other factors in¸uence the report and why relying on the autopsy report alone is not advisable. Autopsy is from the Greek autopsia, meaning “to see with one’s own eyes.”† ‚e following discussion will dissect the autopsy report and supporting death investigation in order to allow the legal investigator to view death and nondeath cases with his or her own eyes.
