External medical examination of corpses in the Munich area

Due to a lack of quality and availability of medical post-mortem examinations the Munich police initiated a 24 h service where at least one physician is on stand-by. Ever since the introduction of this system in 1995, up to 2,000-2,500 medico-legal external examinations are performed each year in Munich city and the surrounding district, corresponding to approximately 10% of the overall fatal incidents within this region. The physicians in charge are trained at the Forensic Medical Department in Munich and regular quality controls are carried out. Investigating authorities support this initiative and an improvement of the medical external post-mortem examination has been noted. This article presents the concept and purpose of this post-mortem service.