Autopsy a burden for grieving families<\/p>\n
By Emmy Fitri<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Thirty-year-old Cuntirah, a vegetable farmer
\nfrom Kuningan in West Java rushed to Jakarta after being told
\nthat her husband, Saripin, 40, an ice seller, had been stabbed by
\na fellow street trader at the Tanah Abang market in Central
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
She borrowed Rp 1 million from her relatives, who sold their
\njewelry to raise the money, and finally arrived at Sumber Waras
\nHospital in West Jakarta on Sept. 19.<\/p>\n
Cuntirah gave the money -- all the more precious to this poor
\nfarmer -- to the cashier, hoping that the doctors could save her
\nhusband's life. Saripin died a few hours later.<\/p>\n
But Cuntirah was not allowed to take her husband's body
\nbecause police wanted it examined at Cipto Mangunkusumo General
\nHospital.<\/p>\n
Police need a postmortem examination, and the evidence it
\nprovides, to bring suspects to justice later.<\/p>\n
Before Cuntirah had finished thinking about how to repay her
\ndebt, a Cipto Mangunkusumo staffer handed her a bill for Rp
\n450,000 (US$118.50) for the procedure, administrative fees and
\nthe cost of transporting the body by ambulance from Sumber Waras
\nHospital.<\/p>\n
In a charitable gesture, Saripin's fellow traders collected
\nenough money to ensure their colleague's widow could pay the fees
\nand take the body home for burial.<\/p>\n
If Cuntirah had failed to pay the bill, but still wanted
\npolice to bring the suspect to court, Saripin's body would be
\n\"examined\" by forensic doctors but relatives would be unable to
\nreclaim it.<\/p>\n
The body would be listed as an unidentified corpse and buried
\nat the city-owned Semper Cemetery in North Jakarta or Pondok
\nRangon Cemetery in East Jakarta, noted forensic doctor Mun'im
\nIdries of Cipto Mangunkusumo said recently.<\/p>\n
Police approval<\/p>\n
A body can be claimed before it undergoes a postmortem
\nexamination only with the written approval of a police chief. In
\nreturn, the victim's relatives forfeit the right to seek legal
\nredress against the attacker, he said.<\/p>\n
For example, relatives of an old man who was found dead in his
\nSouth Jakarta home last year could remove his body from the
\nmorgue only after they acquired the signature of the local police
\nprecinct chief.<\/p>\n
By law, police must have a postmortem report for everyone who
\nmay have suffered a violent or inexplicable death.<\/p>\n
Mun'im, who has been a forensic doctor for 25 years, said not
\nall deceased people were examined.<\/p>\n
\"Only victims of crime need to be examined,\" he said. \"Whether
\nit is a crime or not is up to the police to detect and decide if
\nit needs further investigate.<\/p>\n
\"So an autopsy is required by police and approved by the
\nfamily of the victim.\"<\/p>\n
Members of the public can also request an autopsy -- if they
\nbelieve their relative's death was unusual and have reported it
\nto the police -- but this was \"rare\".<\/p>\n
\"I hardly ever find a family who will voluntarily submit the
\nbody of their beloved to a forensic doctor for examination,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Autopsies sometimes generate both confusion and fear among
\nrelatives.<\/p>\n
For the well-off, it is not the cost but the idea of the
\ngruesome procedure that is the main reason for them to refuse.<\/p>\n
Many believe that a postmortem examination is the best way for
\ndoctors and medical students to get body organs for experiments.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know anything about autopsies,\" Cuntirah said. \"I
\nonly hear that my husband's body will be cut up and some of his
\ninternal organs will be pulled out by the doctors.\"<\/p>\n
Forensic expert Mun'im said the public's confusion was
\nunderstandable.<\/p>\n
\"I know that a majority of people draw these conclusions
\nbecause of a scarcity of information.<\/p>\n
\"It's totally wrong if people think that parts of the body
\nwill be removed during an autopsy.\"<\/p>\n
Although the body may look deflated after the operation, he
\nsaid this was due to the release of gases and not missing
\norgans.<\/p>\n
Mun'im also denied claims that medical students were also
\nallowed to \"playing around\" with the dead bodies at Cipto
\nMangunkusumo's morgue.<\/p>\n
Learning<\/p>\n
Medical students were sometimes allowed into the morgue to
\nlearn how to detect the cause of death and issue postmortem
\nreports.<\/p>\n
They were also allowed to watch the operation and invited to
\nconducted the operation, with senior doctors there to assist
\nthem, he said.<\/p>\n
An autopsy also involves various tests being carried out on
\nthe body, including toxicology, serology, blood and semen tests
\nand, if necessary, DNA profiling.<\/p>\n
It seems even more tragic that a family must pay extra money
\nat a time when they are grieving a loved one.<\/p>\n
\"Police wouldn't give me the death certificate when I refused
\nto pay for the autopsy and sign the autopsy documents,\" a
\nhousewife said.<\/p>\n
Cipto Mangunkusumo, the only hospital in Greater Jakarta
\nauthorized to issue postmortem reports, has set an autopsy tariff
\nof Rp 50,000 per body during working hours and Rp 200,000 outside
\nworking hours.<\/p>\n
The autopsy tariff for the body of an expatriate costs US$100
\nduring working hours and $300 at other times.<\/p>\n
\"Poor families, however, are advised to come here during
\nworking hours or, if they cannot afford it, present the victim to
\nus as an unidentified body,\" Mardiyono, the head of the morgue,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Article 136 of the Criminal Code Procedures says that the
\nstate is responsible for all expense of an investigation,
\nincluding the autopsy.<\/p>\n
Mun'im said: \"But it's not clear because it doesn't specify
\nwho the state is, the police or the state hospital.<\/p>\n
\"And doctors are professionals, they have to be paid for their
\nwork.<\/p>\n
\"I know in some areas, like Tangerang, Bekasi and Karawang,
\npolice will pay for the autopsy but here in the big city, police
\nwould run out of money if they had to pay for all of the
\nautopsies,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/autopsy-a-burden-for-grieving-families-1447893297",
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