title: [Dutch guideline 'Post-mortem examination for attending doctors' ready at last].
abstract: - The central theme of the guideline 'Post-mortem examination for attending doctors' is that the primary aim of the post-mortem examination is not to ascertain death as such, but to investigate whether the person died of natural or unnatural causes.- The guideline gives indications for the content of the post-mortem in order to make this differentiation reliable.- Only in cases of natural death is the attending doctor permitted to fill in a death certificate. - In cases of possible unnatural death where a crime or an imputable act may have been committed, a municipal coroner should be called in. - Post-mortem should be carried out as quickly as possible after notification, with the exception of nocturnal deaths in nursing homes, or comparable care institutions, when this decease is expected.
authors.affiliation: Nederlands Huisartsen Genootschap, afdeling Richtlijnontwikkeling en Wetenschap, Utrecht.
authors.forename: Tj
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiersma
authors.forename: W P R A
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Cappers
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003334:Coroners and Medical Examiners; D003644:Death Certificates; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands