ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the principle of res ipsa loquitur: "The facts speak for themselves." The words psychological autopsy themselves tell us that the procedure has to do with clarifying the nature of a death and that it focuses on the psychological aspects of the death ideas. The origin of the psychological autopsy grew out of the frustration of the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner, Theodore J. Curphey, M.D., at the time of the reorganization of that office in 1958. In conducting the interviews during a psychological autopsy, it is often best to ask open-ended questions that permit the respondent to associate to relevant details without being made painfully aware of the specific interests of the questioner. Edwin Shneidman's paper "An Example of an Equivocal Death Clarified in a Court of Law" is an example of a military psychological autopsy.
