Informed consent of postmortem sampling: Bibliographic review.

Background: Informed consent is based on the principle of personal autonomy, the moral conception of respect for the dignity of the human being and therefore on his freedom. The rest of the universal bioethical principles are articulated in the informed consent process: non-maleficence, justice, and beneficence.

Objective: Establish the situations in which it is pertinent to apply informed consent in the taking of postmortem samples from a bioethical approach versus a legal approach.