Nelson Craig L, Winston David C
Department of Pathology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona 85724, USA.
Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2006 Jun;27(2):103-5. doi: 10.1097/01.paf.0000220929.66877.cd.
Title 9, Chapter 19, Article 3 of the Arizona Administrative Code requires all bodies that are to be cremated must have the death certificate reviewed by a county medical examiner. In Tucson, AZ, and surrounding Pima County, all cremation requests are submitted to the Forensic Science Center, where the death certificates are reviewed by one of 5 board-certified forensic pathologists. In 2002, there were 5557 cremation requests, and in 2003 there were 5662 cremation requests. Of these requests, 670 (12.1%) and 447 (7.9%) death certificates were flagged for further investigation in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Eventually, 47 cases (0.8% of total, 7.0% of flagged cases) were accepted as medical examiner cases in 2002, and 43 cases (0.8% of total, 9.6% of flagged cases) were accepted as medical examiner cases in 2003. In 2002, the majority of cases were handled as a records review; however, 4 cases were brought in for autopsy and 1 was certified after an external examination only. In 2003, all cases were certified via a records review. The manner of death in all but 3 of these deaths was certified as accident, with complications of remote trauma being the most common proximate cause of death. The 3 most common injuries were complications of fractured pelvis or femur (15 in 2002, 22 in 2003), head injury due to fall (18 in 2002, 8 in 2003), and complications of remote motor vehicle accident (3 in 2002, 6 in 2003). The other 3 deaths included 2 homicides, 1 in each year, and 1 suicide in 2003.
《亚利桑那州行政法规》第9编第19章第3条规定，所有将被火化的尸体必须由县法医审查死亡证明。在亚利桑那州图森市及周边的皮马县，所有火化申请都提交给法医科学中心，由5名获得委员会认证的法医病理学家之一审查死亡证明。2002年有5557份火化申请，2003年有5662份火化申请。在这些申请中，2002年和2003年分别有670份（12.1%）和447份（7.9%）死亡证明被标记以便进一步调查。最终，2002年有47例（占总数的0.8%，占标记病例的7.0%）被认定为法医病例，2003年有43例（占总数的0.8%，占标记病例的9.6%）被认定为法医病例。2002年，大多数病例通过记录审查处理；然而，有4例进行了尸检，1例仅经过外部检查后被认证。2003年，所有病例均通过记录审查进行认证。除3例死亡外，所有这些死亡的死亡方式均被认证为意外，远期创伤并发症是最常见的直接死因。3种最常见的损伤是骨盆或股骨骨折并发症（2002年15例，2003年22例）、跌倒导致的头部损伤（2002年18例，2003年8例）和远期机动车事故并发症（2002年3例，2003年6例）。另外3例死亡包括2起凶杀案，每年各1起，以及2003年1起自杀案。
