Is Systematic Neuropathological Examination of the Whole Brain Ethically and Scientifically Licit in Forensic Context?

To date, the whole brain is classically freshly examined during the autopsy, and can be removed in entirety in order to perform a complementary neuropathological examination. Is-it legitimate to bury a corpse without the brain – this symbolic organ – in order to satisfy the physician’s curiosity and/or the scientific necessity? Indeed, brain is an organ with a strong symbolic signification.

In order to estimate the accuracy of such post-mortem neuropathological examination of the whole brain, a brief survey was carried out in the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the R. Poincaré University Hospital (West Paris, France) between 2009 and 2011. On a total of 32 brains (=13.4%) removed on a total of 238 autopsies of adult individuals (in a good state of preservation, without exteriorization of the intracranial structures) and get full analysis by a neuropathologist, the final diagnostic of the cause of death given at the end of the autopsy was never changed.