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Autopsies

The Postmortem Examination in Cases of Suspected Homicide

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The postmortem examination in cases of suspected homicide represents one of the most important applications of medicolegal science to the needs of the community. Its proper performance is of paramount concern to those agencies of government responsible for law enforcement and the effective administration of justice. In view "of the desire of the medical and legal professions, increasingly evident in recent years, to improve the standards and quality of medicolegal practice throughout the country, it was considered timely and appropriate to review again the subject of the postmortem examination in cases of homicide, and to point out what is expected in the way of performance of the person entrusted with it. In a paper published several years ago, the author described and discussed the routine procedures necessary in such examinations.' Inadequacies of Medicolegal Agencies and of the Statutes Pertaining to Them At present, in most sections of the country, the postmortem investigation of homicide is... inexpertly and

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Evaporated Liquid Nitrogen-Induced Asphyxia: A Case Report

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INTRODUCTION

Nitrogen gas (N2), as a major inert gas of the atmosphere, is liquefied to liquid nitrogen (LN2) on cooling to -196℃ and easily vaporizes at room temperature. Known to be harmless with the exception of potential frostbite injury, LN2 is widely used in laboratories and in industry for freezing, filling, or cleaning purposes (1, 2). The few reported cases of accidental harm from LN2 (3-5) were caused by careless management, which may have involved sudden LN2 evaporation leading to oxygen depletion in limited spaces. However, those reports (3-5) did not reveal indisputable evidence of the cause of asphyxia even though they included complete autopsies, toxicological analysis, and blood gas analysis. In this case report, a postgraduate student was found dead in an underground dry area where a cylinder of LN2 had been disposed. By a complete autopsy, we analyzed the atmosphere gas of the dry area through a reconstruction of the accidental scene in order to help define the cause of death.

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The Autopsy Lexicon

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● Context. Although standard autopsy texts and other publications discuss the general content of autopsy reports, and some provide examples of autopsy report formats, no publication to date has recommended specific headings for autopsy report organization. The College of American Pathologists Autopsy Committee decided it would be helpful to provide suggestions for autopsy report headings to foster more standardized autopsy reporting, to facilitate review of reports by third parties, and to facilitate searches of electronically stored autopsy reports
. Objectives. To create a model document (named the Autopsy Lexicon), which defines standard categories of information that are useful to include in autopsy reports; to offer specific wording for the headings of various sections of the report; and to explain the rationale for including the various items of information and headings.
Participants and Methods. The members of the Autopsy Committee of the College of American Pathologists prepared the document by reviewing various examples of autopsy report formats, identifying specific categories of information usually contained in such reports, and developing

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Cardiovascular Disease and Drowning: Autopsy and Laboratory Findings

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Introduction: The purpose of this report is to describe the main autopsy and laboratory findings from a large number of drowning victims in Greece.
Methods. A retrospective analysis was carried out of the consecutive cases of drowning victims autopsied in our department during the period 1997-2004.
Results. A total of 197 submersion cases were referred to the Department. In 168 cases drowning was considered as the cause of death. In 82 cases (49%) significant histopathological findings from the cardiovascular system were present. Alcohol was found in 21 cases (13%) and psychoactive substances in 4 cases (2%). Food was found in the stomach of 45 drowning victims (27%). Men (65%) and elderly people (60 years and older, 74%) made up the majority of drowning victims. In 29 submersion cases the cause of death was other than drowning; in 25 of these cases death was attributed to cardiovascular disease (complication of coronary artery disease, 23 cases; dissecting aortic aneurysm, 1 case; cerebral stroke, 1 case).
Conclusions. The great majority

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Forensic Determination Of Age At Time Of Death From The Analysis Of Bones

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Forensic determination of ‘age at time of death’ from the analysis of bones Dr Peter Zioupos at Cranfield University has developed an improved method for determining a person’s age at the time of death, from small samples of bone and with a level of accuracy previously not obtainable. The technique is particularly effective beyond the age of skeletal maturity (30-35 years), an area that is very often problematic with existing techniques. The university is seeking collaborative development and licensing relationships with commercial/research partners. This invention from Cranfield University consists of a technique for the prediction of ‘age at death’ using laboratory based analytical techniques. Age is one of the four important attributes that a forensic anthropologist may be called on to determine in the case of a body or body parts of unknown origin, together with sex, stature and ethnic background. Current methods of age determination are largely qualitative and are only able to categorise individuals within broad age bands. The accuracy of current age determination methods...

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Hospital Versus Medicolegal (Forensic) Autopsies

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I. Overview

A. One of the most important facts that must be recognized by pathologists is that hospital autopsies and medicolegal autopsies differ in many important respects.
B. Competency in hospital autopsy performance does not necessarily equate to competency in medicolegal autopsy performance.
C. Understanding the important differences between hospital and medicolegal autopsies is essential in being able to recognize cases that should be handled as medicolegal cases. In certain instances, hospital pathologists might wish to refer the case to someone with more forensic expertise.
D. It is also important to recognize that, depending on the jurisdiction and the type of medicolegal death investigation system, a local, hospital-based, nonforensic pathologist might be considered by all persons involved (including police) as the person with the most expertise in forensic pathology. As such, all pathologists should be aware of the basic requirements and expectations when performing medicolegal autopsies.
E. Following a brief synopsis of some more general differences between hospital and medicolegal autopsies and a discussion of when a hospital autopsy is recognized as a medicolegal autopsy, the remainder...

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Whitewater: The Foster Report

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Whitewater: The Foster Report

This is the full text of the report on the 1993 death of White House counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr., compiled by Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr. After an exhaustive three-year investigation, Starr reaffirmed that Foster's death was a suicide. This file does not contain the report's footnotes or appendix. Read the Oct. 11, 1997 Post story about the report's findings.

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No, Donald Trump, there’s nothing ‘fishy’ about Vince Foster’s suicide

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Donald Trump “called theories of possible foul play ‘very serious’ and the circumstances of [Vince] Foster’s death ‘very fishy.’”

— “Trump escalates attack on Bill Clinton,” The Washington Post, May 24, 2016

Donald Trump appears intent on dredging up every last bit of every Clinton controversy, including the 1993 death of the Clintons’ close personal friend, White House deputy counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr.

Foster “had intimate knowledge of what was going on,” Trump told The Washington Post. “He knew everything that was going on, and then all of a sudden he committed suicide.” The presumptive GOP presidential nominee said, “I don’t know enough to really discuss it” but “I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder.”

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Autopsy Vincent Foster Part (2)

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Kavanaugh, then 30, argued that unsupported allegations that Foster may have been murdered gave Starr the right to probe the matter more deeply. Foster's death had already been the focus of two investigations, both concluding that Foster committed suicide.

"We are currently investigating Vincent Foster's death to determine, among other things, whether he was murdered in violation of federal criminal law," Kavanaugh wrote to Starr and six other officials in a memo offering legal justification for the probe. "[I]t necessarily follows that we must have the authority to fully investigate Foster's death.

The four-page memo, obtained by The Washington Post from the Library of Congress, sheds light on how Kavanaugh's thinking evolved on the legal rights of sitting presidents.

His handling of Starr's Foster probe helped elevate Kavanaugh's career, but the lengthy inquiry enabled conspiracy theories to flourish and add to the tumult of the Clinton presidency. Once the Foster matter was closed, Starr's...

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Reviewing and Comprehending Autopsy Reports

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Understanding the value of the autopsy report and the information accompanying it is a valuable asset to all investigators.

DEEPER INSIGHTS

Advances, Benefits and Challenges of Oral Fluid Testing in Forensic Toxicology

Voltaire said “To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.” This is the definitive task of the medicolegal death investigator and forensic pathologist. The course of the death investigation has multiple phases including: scene investigation, body assessment, medical records, and the forensic autopsy. This is finalized in three documents: the death certificate, the investigator’s report, and the autopsy report. In order to understand the importance of the autopsy report, and how to interpret it, you should understand how all the other factors influence the report and why you cannot rely on the autopsy report alone.

An Overview of Death Investigation...

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