Aspects of Ballistic Injury

The Clinician’s Role

Clinical forensic medicine is best defined as the application of forensic medical knowledge and techniques to the solution of law in the investigation of trauma involving living victims.1–5 In the setting of emergency departments, these techniques include the correct forensic evaluation, documentation, and photography of traumatic injuries, as well as the recognition and proper handling of evidentiary material for future use in legal proceedings.1–8 While the tasks of documenting, gathering, and preserving evidence traditionally have been considered to be the responsibility of the forensic pathologist or the police, the roles of the trauma physician and forensic investigators actually have several areas of complementary interest. These arise from the dual purposes of providing immediate care for the individual victim or patient and the longer-term reduction and prevention of injury and violence in the community as a whole.6,9 Appropriate documentation and handling of evidence by trauma personnel assist the forensic pathologist in evaluating cases of initially nonfatal traumatic deaths and assist the police