When a person who was healthy or with only mild symptom of diseases dies suddenly in unexpected situation is known as sudden unexpected death. This kind of death involves many problems within the family or socially, so it is apt to bring about judicial intervening.
Therefore, the author considers the social status of sudden unexpected death as the first part of medicolegal review. The author selected 423 cases from Dong-A Ilbo from 1963 to 1982 and reached to the conclusion as described below, from investigation of annual trend, seasonal, sexual and age distribution, cause of death, time of death, motive, place of occurrence, and elapsed time from occurrence to death.
1) According to this investigation, male to female ratio is 4 : 1.
2) According to this investigation, sudden unexpected death occurs more in season of activity, such as summer and autumn than spring and winter.
3) According to this investigation, the order of higher occurrence to the age in male is 50s, 40s, 20s in the sequence, and 20s, 40s, 30s, 10s in female.
4) According to this investigation, the order of higher occurrence to the place is home, road, hospital, work in the sequence.
5) According to this investigation, there is significant relation between the occupation and place of occurrence.
6) According to this investigation, the order of higher occurrence to the motive of death is overwork, physical trauma, medical care, psychological impact, exercise, drinking and sexual coitus in the sequence.
7) According to this investigation, there is significant relation between motive of death and place of occurence, sex, or time of death.
8) According to this investigation, the order of higher occurrence to the cause of death is sudden
cardiac death, cerebral stroke, anaphylactic shock, hypertension, and acute hemorrhage in the sequenco.
9) According to this investigation, there is valuable relation between cause of death and motive of death.
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