Medical Research Archives |https://esmed.org/MRA/index.php/mra/article/view/4873 1 OPEN ACCESS Published: December 31, 2023 Citation: Kumar K, Kumar V, et al., 2023 The definitive indefinite cause of death: Case series-based Evaluation and discussion of Negative and Obscure Autopsy., Medical Research Archives, [online] 11(12). https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v 11i12.4873 Copyright: © 2023 European Society of Medicine. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. DOI https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v 11i12.4873 ISSN: 2375-1924 CASE SERIES COLUMN The definitive indefinite cause of death: Case series-based Evaluation and discussion of Negative and Obscure Autopsy. Dr Kuldeep Kumar 1 , Dr Vinod Kumar 1 , Dr Naveen Sharma 2 , Dr Kunal Gaba 3 , Dr Rahul Kaushik* 4 1 Associate Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Pt BD Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana, INDIA 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Maharishi Markandeshwar College of Medical Sciences and Research, Sadopur, Ambala, Haryana INDIA 3 Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine, Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Bathinda, Punjab, INDIA 4 Resident, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Pt BD Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana, INDIA *Corresponding Author: kaushik.rahul587@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Medicolegal autopsies are routinely done by forensic pathologist to fulfil the objectives of autopsy and to solve the dilemma of investigating agencies. The objectives of a medicolegal autopsy are various depending on case to case which varies from establishing the identity of deceased to detect the any disease, injury or permanent physiological and pathological changes in the body that leads to death. But the medicolegal autopsy is not always concluding the main objective of it which is cause of death and such autopsies are categorised as obscure and negative autopsy. Acknowledgement of incidence of negative autopsy to the practicing forensic pathologist is necessary. We are discussing here some autopsies conducted by the author(s) after which the final scientific cause of death could not be ascertained. In this article, the steps to follow are discussed once an autopsy is designated as obscure or negative autopsy. The algorithm-based approach toward the determination of cause of death and importance of other circumstantial evidences has been discussed. Keywords: Negative autopsy, Cause of death, Medicolegal, Sudden death Introduction: