Standard Operating Procedure of Postmortem Inspection: The Korean Society for Legal Medicine
- Author:
Jinhyuk CHOI
1
;
Taehwa BAEK
;
Min Sung CHOI
;
Tae Hoon KANG
;
Byeong Woo MIN
;
Yu Hoon KIM
;
Jong-Pil PARK
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- From:Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2026;50(1):9-15
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
- Abstract: Postmortem inspection is a specialized medical practice that determines the cause and manner of death via external examination of a corpse. It is performed as part of the medico-legal death investigation and a crucial step in determining whether an autopsy is necessary. In South Korea, training for doctors performing postmortem inspection and quality control for postmortem inspection results remain lacking. Therefore, the Korean Society for Legal Medicine established a task force and proposed a standard operating procedure (SOP) of postmortem inspection. This article includes the background for proposing this SOP, an introduction to the postmortem inspection process, and the principles for performing the procedure and writing the report. This SOP may serve as a basic guideline for postmortem inspection.
