In Japan, autopsies are generally conducted only when there is reason to believe foul play is involved, if the death was violent or if the cause of death is unknown.
There are three categories of post-mortem:
- Administrative post-mortem – when the death occurs as a result of an accident or in cases of sudden death by natural causes occurring outside of the hospital or home.
- Judicial post-mortem – when the death occurs in suspicious circumstances.
- Pathological post-mortem – by request and at the expense of the family. If family wish for this option they should seek legal advice on this for more information
In the first two cases, the post-mortem is carried out without the consent of next-of-kin. Once the post-mortem is complete, the deceased person’s body is usually released for cremation or burial. This is the case even when a definitive cause of death has not been established, as samples of organs are typically retained to allow the authorities to continue their tests to establish the exact cause of death (see information on Organ Retention below).
In some prefectures, post-mortems are carried out by the Medical Examiner’s Office (Kansatsu Imu-in 監察医務院). In other parts of Japan where there are no full-time Medical Examiner’s Offices, post-mortems are carried out at local university hospitals or other medical facilities.
