When a court-ordered autopsy was carried out on a deceased 17-day-old child, multinodular hemangiomatosis of the liver was determined to be the cause of massive intra-abdominal bleeding. The physicians who had treated the child had suspected this disease because of the results of their sonographic investigations, but were unable to reach a final diagnosis. Also, the results of the autopsy excluded negligence by the obstetricians with certainty.