Abstract: In order to investigate the characteristics of medical tangle autopsy, 318 autopsy cases of medical tangle from 1972-1998 were studied retrospectively In the first report, the following conclusions were presented about the happening of medical tangles related to death: (1) The case number of medical tangle autopsy increased greatly from 23 in 1972-1983 to 295 in 1984-1998; (2) There was not much sexual difference in deaths; (3) There were two peaks in age distribution, 104 cases (37 21%) were below 10 years old, 161 cases (50 63%) were at the age of 20-49; (4) Most cases (195 cases,61 32%) happened in middle size hospitals of cities and counties In recent years, disputes in private-owned clinics were increasing; (5) The surgery (71 cases,22 33%) and obstetrics (58 cases,18 24%) were the most involved departments The reasons resulting in medical tangles of 206 cases of non-malpractice and 99 cases of malpractice were discussed briefly

Key words: medical tangle, forensic autopsy, incidence