Autoren:	Schwarz, Clara-Sophie Münch, Nikolai Müller-Salo, Johannes Kramer, Stefan Walz, Cleo Germerott, Tanja
Titel:	The dignity of the human corpse in forensic medicine
Online-Publikationsdatum:	9-Aug-2022
Erscheinungsdatum:	2021
Sprache des Dokuments:	Englisch
Zusammenfassung/Abstract:	Working with the dead is a very specific kind of work. Although a dignified handling of the corpses is demanded by the legislator and by the general public, neither the legal status of the corpse is undisputed nor is it obvious what a dignified handling of the deceased should consist of. In our hypothesis generating pilot study, we asked which concrete considerations are involved in daily practice of forensic specialists. We used an online questionnaire (invitations via e-mail) consisting of questions with single choice, multiple choice, and free text entries. The answers to single or multiple choice questions were displayed in pivot tables. The data was thus summarized, viewed, descriptively analyzed, and displayed together with the free text answers. 84.54% of the physicians and 100% of the autopsy assistants stated that considerations concerning the dignity of the deceased should play a role in daily autopsy practice. 45.87% stated that the conditions surrounding the autopsy need improvement to be ethically suitable. The analysis of the survey’s results was based on Robert Audi’s ethics, according to which three aspects need to be lightened in order to evaluate the conduct of a person morally: the actions, the motivation, and the way in which the actions are carried out. This systematization helps to identify the need for improvement and to make the vague demands for a dignified handling of corpses more concrete.
DDC-Sachgruppe:	610 Medizin 610 Medical sciences
Veröffentlichende Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Organisationseinheit:	FB 04 Medizin
Veröffentlichungsort:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-7531
Version:	Published version
Publikationstyp:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Nutzungsrechte:	CC BY
Informationen zu den Nutzungsrechten:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Zeitschrift:	International journal of legal medicine 135
Seitenzahl oder Artikelnummer:	2073 2079
Verlag:	Springer
Verlagsort:	Berlin u.a.
Erscheinungsdatum:	2021
ISSN:	1437-1596
DOI der Originalveröffentlichung:	10.1007/s00414-021-02534-x
Enthalten in den Sammlungen:	JGU-Publikationen