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The medico-legal autopsy: when it is mandatory in Colombia

  • Procedure

A medico-legal autopsy is mandatory in violent, suspicious or unexplained deaths, and it is ordered by the authority, not the family.

Updated

What it is

A medico-legal autopsy is one performed for a judicial investigation; a clinical autopsy is one done for any other purpose. In Colombia it is regulated by Decree 786 of 1990, compiled in Decree 780 of 2016 (Book 2, Part 8, Title 9). It is mandatory in homicide, suicide, accidental death, suspicion of any of these, when homicide must be distinguished from suicide, in other deaths of unclear cause, and when the authority requests it to identify a body. The decree also singles out deaths in state custody, from occupational disease or work accidents, from chemicals, medicines or household products, of minors with suspected neglect or abuse, possibly caused by a medical act, and of pregnant women or fetuses with suspected non-spontaneous abortion. It may be performed by Legal Medicine doctors, doctors in compulsory social service, official doctors and others designated by the authority.

What to document

  • Details of the request (authority, date), of the inspection record and of the chain of custody received.
  • Start and end times of the autopsy and the people present.
  • Description of each injury: site with anatomical landmarks, shape, size, track and relation to the cause of death.
  • Injuries from medical procedures, kept separate from the rest.
  • Samples taken, labels and to whom they were handed.

How it is done

  1. Receive the authority's written request, the body inspection record and, if any, the medical record (art. 8).
  2. Check the identity of the body and the chain-of-custody labels against the record.
  3. Full external examination: clothing, identifying marks, postmortem changes and every injury, with photographs.
  4. Internal examination of the cranial, thoracic and abdominal cavities, and other regions as the case requires.
  5. Take samples for toxicology, histology or other studies, labelled and under chain of custody.
  6. Establish cause, mechanism and manner of death, and estimate time since death if possible.
  7. Write the expert report and deliver it to the authority that requested the autopsy.

Next step: what to do and document

  • In any death covered by art. 6 or art. 7, do not issue a natural-death certificate: notify the judicial police so an autopsy is ordered.
  • If the rural doctor receives the order, perform it as soon as possible after death (art. 31) and to the same technical standard as at a Legal Medicine office.
  • Record everything in the expert report in plain language, separating findings from interpretation.
  • Keep samples and items under chain of custody, which under the decree starts with the authority doing the inspection and ends with the judge (art. 10).
  • Explain to the family that the medico-legal autopsy is ordered by the authority and does not need their consent, unlike the clinical one (art. 16).
  • Official text checked on 2026-11-05 at funcionpublica.gov.co.

Common mistakes

  • Doing only an external examination or a viscerotomy in a case that requires a full autopsy.
  • Certifying an unexplained death as natural to avoid the procedure.
  • Asking the family for consent as if it were a clinical autopsy, or delaying the autopsy while waiting for it.
  • Breaking the chain of custody of samples or projectiles.

Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

In which cases is a medico-legal autopsy mandatory in Colombia?

Homicide, suicide, accidental death or suspicion of these, doubt between homicide and suicide, unclear cause, and when the authority requests it to identify the body (Decree 786 of 1990, art. 6).

May a doctor in compulsory social service perform a medico-legal autopsy?

Yes. Decree 786 of 1990 (art. 9, now art. 2.8.9.9 of Decree 780 of 2016) lists them among the competent doctors.

Is family consent needed for a medico-legal autopsy?

No. Its prerequisites are the authority's written request, the inspection record and a suitable place; family consent is a prerequisite of the clinical autopsy.

Can a viscerotomy replace a medico-legal autopsy?

No. Decree 786 of 1990 (art. 5, paragraph) states that a viscerotomy never replaces it.

Which death of a pregnant woman requires a medico-legal autopsy under art. 7?

That of a pregnant woman or of the product of conception when a non-spontaneous abortion is suspected.

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Educational content on forensic and legal medicine; not legal advice and no substitute for the technical guides of Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Laws change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, follow the guide in force and ask the competent authority.

Sources: Decree 786 of 1990: clinical and medico-legal autopsies and viscerotomies (compiled in Decree 780 of 2016) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 1990); Law 906 of 2004, Code of Criminal Procedure (arts. 205 and 214) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 2004); The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2017).

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