Knowledge and Perceptions Regarding Medico-legal Postmortem Examination among the Arts and Commerce Stream Students of Mangalore, India Jha RN1, Badiadika KK2,*, Vaswani VR3, Shenoy VK4 1Postgraduate, Final Year, Department of Forensic Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, India 2Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, India 3Professor and Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, India 4Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, India *Corresponding Author: Dr. Kishor Kumar Badiadka Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Yenepoya Medical College. Yenepoya university, Deralakatte, Mangalore-575018 Mobile: 9844550574, Gmail: kishorkumbala970@gamil.com
Online published on 17 July, 2019. Abstract Background Medico legal post-mortem examinations for all unnatural deaths are conducted as a part of essential investigation in India. A significant number of people in India and other countries still object to the post-mortem examination. Post mortem examination to a great extent is influenced by perception and knowledge of people, hence the study was undertaken to explore knowledge and perceptions. Objectives To analyse the knowledge and perception regarding the postmortem examination among arts and commerce stream students of Mangalore. To create awareness about the importance of post mortem examination. Method This is a descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire based exploratory study conducted in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. 196 participants between ages 18 to 25 years were included. Responses were obtained from the study participants through open ended questionnaires. Results Majority of (94.4%) participants understand that post-mortem examination is done to find cause of death. One hundred seventy-nine (91.3%) participants understood that post-mortem examination is conducted by doctor. Twenty-six (13%) participants believe that post-mortem alters the life after death while 21% were unsure about postmortem alters the life after death. Conclusion Majority of the participants have fair knowledge regarding post-mortem examination, about one third participants believe that post-mortem interferes life after death and were that unsure how it alters life after death. There is still scope of improvement regarding knowledge of post-mortem examination in many participants. Their positive perception about medico legal post mortem examination will helps to establish a proper medico legal system in India. Top Keywords Medico legal autopsy, knowledge of post-mortem, perceptions of post-mortem. Top |