Dutch term – Lijkschouwing

Lijkschouwing literally means corpse-assessment. It is the term for the assesment by a doctor after a person died, to determine whether the person died of natural known causes, natural unknown causes, or unnatural causes. This is typically done by the doctor treating the patient or the doctor who was on call when the patient died. If unnatural causes are suspected, the doctor will inform the municipal coroner and an autopsy is usually performed.

This is how it is under the current law (1991). If you find a record of lijkschouwing in historical records, that usually points to a death of unnatural causes. Such records are sometimes found in town records, like the correspondence of the municipality. In most cases, these records have not been preserved and are not available to researchers.

Burial of Gerrit Jan Hoitink, 1942. Author’s private collection