Psychiatric postmortem examination: questions, conduct and conclusion of a forensic psychiatrist

In the practice of forensic medicine, there is such a thing - "psychiatric posthumous examination." Indeed, in some cases, the conclusion of a forensic expert does after the death of a person. Let's talk about what a forensic psychiatric examination is and in what cases it is carried out posthumously.

What is forensic psychiatric examination?

Forensic psychiatric examination is an examination procedure conducted by a qualified medical professional, a psychiatrist. The purpose of this event is to establish the sanity or mental inferiority of a person who became a victim in a criminal case, as well as the accused and witnesses in the case. If it is a question of civil suits, forensic psychiatric examination can be conducted both in respect of the plaintiff and the defendant.

In order to make his conclusion, the forensic psychiatrist should get as fully informed as possible about the case on which he is to work. He gets access to all the materials provided by the prosecution and protection, and also talks to the person being examined.

But what to do if the investigation needs a conclusion about the sanity or insanity of the deceased person? In this case, a psychiatric posthumous examination is carried out.

In what cases is examination appointed posthumously?

Conducting this type of research may, if necessary, be determined by the investigation in criminal cases, as well as in civil cases.

If a criminal case is being considered, a psychiatric posthumous examination may be appointed in the following cases:

• If a person has committed a crime and died before the trial;
• When there is a repeated review of the sentence of the convicted person who died before the meeting;
• If the victim, in respect of whom the unlawful act was committed, died, but before his death he managed to give some information to the investigative authorities;
• In case of a person's suicide.

If it is a question of civil processes, the psychiatric examination is posthumously appointed after consideration of claims related to acts of donating property or its will.

Posthumous psychiatric examination

The biggest difficulty in carrying out this kind of research is that the person is no longer alive. And the forensic psychiatrist has to reconstruct the psychological portrait of the deceased in order to determine the features of his character, the response to various situations, the motives for his behavior.

The psychiatrist is provided with all case materials collected by the investigative authorities. Often, documents become the only sources that can be used by a given specialist in the performance of his task. That is why the correctness of the decision made by the doctor largely depends on how the investigation worked on the case.

The expert makes a conclusion on the basis of the documents examined by him. At the same time, it solves some expert questions.

Posthumous psychiatric examination: questions

The questions submitted for examination are conventionally divided into main and additional ones. The main research questions are as follows:

1. What psychological state was noted in the subject before death?
2. Did this psychological state arise due to actions performed by another person? If the subject committed suicide, then such actions of another person are understood as threats, violence, cruelty or humiliation of human dignity.

Additional issues that require a psychiatric post-mortem examination may include the following:

1. Did the subject have a state of psychological stress or emotional arousal?
2. Is it possible to conclude that the subject was in a state of physiological affect?

The conclusion of the forensic psychiatrist

Psychiatric postmortem examination assumes the drawing up of a document by the doctor, conclusions on the results of the survey. This document has a certain structure.

First, the formal side of the study is described. The decision on the appointment of an examination is attached , the positions and names of the employees who appointed the study are indicated. The circumstances are also described, on the basis of which a decision on examination was made, lists the names of psychiatrists who participated in the study. Then the circumstances of the case are indicated, as well as information about the life of the person being examined, possible symptoms of a mental disorder. In the final part, a conclusion is drawn about the psychological state of the subject, an expert diagnosis is made and its justification is given.

Such expertise helps not only to outline the psychological portrait of the person being examined. To help distinguish cases of suicide, murder or even premeditated murder, disguised as suicide, may also be a psychiatric examination posthumously conducted by qualified specialists.