Communal approval of medico-legal autopsy in Cote d’Ivoire: The case of the Bouake populations

Background

This study aims to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of the general population toward medico-legal autopsy.

Methodology

It was a questionnaire based cross-sectional study performed among 422 heads of families in the city of Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire. A standard pretested questionnaire was used to collect the responses on knowledge and perception of the people about medico legal autopsy, over a period of 45 days (running from April 1st 2021 to May 15th 2021). Data analysis was performed with the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 24). We used counts, percentages, means, and comparative analyses.

Results

The respondents’ average age was 37 years old. The majority of the respondents (74%) were male with a higher level of education (58.53%), and they worked in the informal sector (52.13%). A ratio was calculated for the assessment of autopsy knowledge data. The average ratio was 1.90 of a total of 6, representing 75.05% of the participants. The opponents to the autopsy advocated based on some religious considerations (52%) and (46%) personal reasons. A significant portion of the participants (50 of 126) approved the performance of a medico-legal investigation on a relative but not on themselves. For these participants, consenting to an autopsy on oneself for life insurance was easier than for the needs of a judicial investigation (OR: 0.41; 95% CI: 0.29–0.58). However, 66.49% of our respondents approved the performance of an autopsy on themselves and 78.45% on a relative.

Conclusions

The Bouake populations approve the performance of an autopsy, although they lack knowledge on the basic elements of a medico-legal autopsy. These populations raised some issues that infringe on the judicial investigation process and may lead to misunderstandings.