title: [Determination of death and post-mortem examination on the high seas].
abstract: Usually death has to be determined by a physician. Deaths on board of ocean-going vessels confront the crew with special challenges, as on the high seas--especially in the container and cargo ship business--often no physician will be available and death has to be determined by medical laymen such as the captain or the medical officer. To document the determination of death, a "Provisional Certificate of Death on the High Seas" is presented. Moreover, an algorithm "Provisional Post-Mortem Examination on the High Seas" is presented to document the results and the practical performance of the external post-mortem examination by medical laymen on a ship. With the help of concrete procedural instructions medical laymen on board of sea-going vessels are to be enabled to determine the death of a human being beyond doubt, to perform a preliminary external post-mortem examination and to store the corpse according to forensic requirements until the ship reaches a port and the body is delivered to the harbour physician.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
authors.forename: Claas T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Buschmann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsokos
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003644:Death Certificates / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012767:Ships