Virtual autopsy in COVID19 positive sudden death of a young adult male; a forensic case report

COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way medical professionals worked earlier. Every branch of medicine has revised its protocols to minimize transmission of infection among healthcare workers, and the branch of forensic pathology is no different. Conventional autopsies are generally not recommended in COVID cases as they pose the risk of transmission due to aerosol-generating procedures. However, there have been more than one occasion where the above recommendation has created ethical dilemmas in medicolegal autopsies. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first known case of COVID-19 sudden death being investigated through a virtual autopsy in the Indian setting. The case further strengthens the notion of the virtual autopsy being sufficient in demonstrating the relevant findings for the purpose of the cause of death in a certain category of medicolegal cases.