medico legal death investigation system

Failure to Autopsy: The Otto Warmbier Case

  • Steven A Koehler* and Victor W Weedn

Published on: 27th December, 2017

OCLC Number/Unique Identifier: 7379410529

Coroner and medical examiner offices are charged with the medicolegal investigation of deaths to determine the cause and manner of death. We describe the recent high-profile case of Otto Warmbier, who tragically died shortly after his return in a coma from North Korea and in which the coroner failed to conduct a complete autopsy, and failed to satisfy the needs of the local, national, and international communities. Medico legal death investigation offices, including both medical examiner and coroner offices, have a legal responsibility and duty to investigate deaths in the public interest for public safety and public health purposes. Although, they serve the families of the deceased as they can, their raison d’être and priority is service to the greater public good. Thus, they may conduct investigations and even autopsies over the objections of the next-of-kin. Full investigations include a complete forensic autopsy. The utilitarian public interest should, within the constraints of the office resources, drive the decision of whether to autopsy or not. Failure to autopsy can sometimes constitute a breach of faith that the public entrusts in these offices. Empirically, this seems to be a greater problem in coroner jurisdictions than in medical examiner offices. Specifically, we believe the recent case of Otto Warmbier is such a case.
Cite this ArticleCrossMarkPublonsHarvard Library HOLLISGrowKudosResearchGateBase SearchOAI PMHAcademic MicrosoftScilitSemantic ScholarUniversite de ParisUW LibrariesSJSU King LibrarySJSU King LibraryNUS LibraryMcGillDET KGL BIBLiOTEKJCU DiscoveryUniversidad De LimaWorldCatVU on WorldCat
AbstractDOI: 10.29328/journal.jfsr.1001012Read Full Article HTMLRead Full Article PDF

Search by University/Institution

Enter your University/Institution to find colleagues at HSPI.

Ensuring author's satisfaction with

  • Friendly and hassle-free publication process
  • Less production time of articles
  • Constructive peer-review
  • Enhancing journal reputation
  • Regular feedback system
  • Quick response to authors' queries

Read More

Most Viewed Keywords

All Issues in 2025

Search Articles by Country

Get all latest articles in all Heighten Science Publications Inc journals by country.

Testmonials

Dear colleagues! I am satisfied with our cooperation with you. Your service is at a high level. I hope for a future relationship. Let me know if I can get a paper version of the magazine with my artic...

Aksenov V.V

Thank you very much. I think the review process and all of what concerns the administration of the publication concerning our paper has been excellent. The nice and quick answers have been very good I...

Doris Nilsson

It was a great experience publishing through JCICM. The article has reached out to several institutions. Appreciate your professional work. Hope to work with you again

Anas Wardeh

"An amazing experience with the Journal of Advanced Pediatrics and Child Health. Very fast blind review with pertinent corrections and suggestions. I highly recommand both the journal and the editor."

Chaimae Khairoun

“It was a delightful experience publishing my manuscript with the Clinical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. They offered me lots of opportunities I never had from most publishing houses and the...

Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness...

Akowuah Jones Asafo

We thank to the heighten science family, who speed up the publication of our article and provide every support.

Mehmet Besir

I would like to mention that I had a wonderful experience working with HSPI. The whole process right from manuscript submission to peer review till the publication of the article was very prompt & eff...

Amarjeet Gambhir

Publishing with the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology was a rewarding experience as review process was thorough and brisk. Their visibility online is second to none as t...

University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nig...

Dr. Elizabeth A Awoyesuku

I am to express my view that Heighten Science Publications are reliable quick even after peer review process. I hope and wish the publications will go a long way in disseminating science to many inter...

College of Fisheries, CAU(I), Tripura, India

Ajit Kumar Roy

I hope to ability to make some new investigation and publish in Your Company in future.

Artur Stopyra

View More

Browse by Subjects

Biology Group Journals

Chemistry Group Journals

Clinical Group Journals

Engineering Group Journals

Medical Group Journals

Pharma Group Journals

Help ?

HSPI: We're glad you're here. Please click "create a new Query" if you are a new visitor to our website and need further information from us.

If you are already a member of our network and need to keep track of any developments regarding a question you have already submitted, click "take me to my Query."