Exhumation after 9 months

Exhumation after 9 months due to suspicion of death due to iatrogenic causes. Exhumation is the retrieval of a previously buried body for post-mortem examination. This is usually followed by a first autopsy or a re-autopsy following new information. The term ‘exhumation’ is usually applied to the removal of a body buried in a legitimate fashion in a cemetery or graveyard (‘inhumation’), rather than the recovery of an uncoffined, clandestinely buried victim of a suspicious death. The latter is really a true ‘scene of crime’ and the pathologist should treat it as such.