NEW DELHI: Autopsy is not mandatory to certify heat-related deaths, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said. In its guideline released recently on heat-related deaths, NCDC said the diagnosis of hyperthermia-abnormally high body temperature-is dependent mostly on the scene of investigation, circumstances of death, and reasonable exclusion of alternative causes of death.
According to NCDC guidelines, a heat-related fatality is defined as a death caused by exposure to high ambient temperatures or one in which high ambient temperatures significantly contributed to the death. For example, the guideline suggests, a death should be certified as heat stroke or hyperthermia if the body temperature of the deceased was higher than 105°F (40.6°C) just before death.
“In cases where the ante-mortem (before death) body temperature cannot be established but the environmental temperature at the time of collapse was high, an appropriate heat-related diagnosis should be listed as the cause of death or as a significant contributing condition,” NCDC adds.
