Forensic autopsy costs in the city of São Paulo

Authors

  • Fernando Augusto Mardiros Herbella Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina
  • Pedro Herbella Fernandes Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina
  • Carlos Delmonte Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina
  • José Carlos Del Grande Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina

Keywords:

Autopsy, Forensics, Costs analysis, Health economy

Abstract

CONTEXT: Modern medical practice involves cost analysis of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. There are no papers dealing with this theme in relation to forensic autopsies in our country. OBJECTIVE: Analysis of direct costs of forensic autopsies. TYPE OF STUDY: Cost analysis. SETTING: São Paulo Medical Examiner’s Central Office. SAMPLE: Year 2001 activity. PROCEDURES: Routine forensic autopsies. MEAN MEASUREMENTS: Analysis of direct costs of personnel and material. RESULTS: Cost of personnel represents 90.38% or US$ 93.46. Material expenses comprised 9.62% or US$ 9.95. Total costs were calculated to be US$ 103.41. CONCLUSIONS: Forensic autopsies have a high cost. Cases to be autopsied should be judiciously selected. Our results are similar to international studies if data are rearranged based on the number of annual necropsies.

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Author Biographies

Fernando Augusto Mardiros Herbella, Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina

MD. Medical examiner, Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Fellow, Department of Surgery, Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brazil.

Pedro Herbella Fernandes, Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina

Chief of Policy, Internal Affairs Office of the Civil Police of the State of São Paulo and professor of Police Academy of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Carlos Delmonte, Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina

MD. Medical examiner, Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo, and professor of, Police Academy of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

José Carlos Del Grande, Instituto Médico Legal of São Paulo and Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina

MD. Associate professor, Department of Surgery, Universidade Federal de São Paulo – Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brazil.

References

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Programa de Aprimoramento das Informações de Mortalidade no Município de São Paulo (PRO-AIM) - Boletim no. 39, 2000.

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Published

2003-05-05

How to Cite

1.
Herbella FAM, Fernandes PH, Delmonte C, Grande JCD. Forensic autopsy costs in the city of São Paulo. Sao Paulo Med J [Internet]. 2003 May 5 [cited 2025 Oct. 16];121(3):139-42. Available from: https://periodicosapm.emnuvens.com.br/spmj/article/view/2610

Issue

Vol. 121 No. 3 (2003)

Section

Short Communication

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.