Recommended Practice based on International Guidelines
A verbal autopsy is an interview carried out with family members and caregivers of the deceased, using a structured questionnaire to elicit signs and symptoms and other pertinent information that can later be used to assign a probable underlying cause of death. The results of the verbal autopsy interview may be analysed using a computer algorithm (automated verbal autopsy), which generates a probable cause of death based on the interviewee responses. Alternatively, a verbal autopsy may be used as a decision-support tool for physicians where there is inadequate information on the deceased’s medical history or the chain of events that led to death.
Bolivia
Legal Analysis
In cases where no medical attention was received by the decedent, or there is no possibility of conducting a physical autopsy, the doctor must reconstruct the clinical history or make a verbal autopsy, and issue the MCCD, stating the facts.
