In the Regulations regarding the rendering of Forensic Pathology Service, 2018, the following categories of deaths should undergo a medico - legal autopsy:

•any death due to physical or chemical influence, direct or indirect, or related complications

•any death, including those deaths which would normally be considered to be a death due to natural causes, which may have been the result of an act of commission or omission, which may be criminal in nature

•any death as contemplated in section 56 of the Health Professions Act of 1974. These include procedure-related deaths; and 

•any death which is sudden and unexpected, or unexplained, or where the cause of death is not apparent. Let us take a closer look at these four groups of death.