CRIM 451 Lecture 5: Week 5 Forensic Pathology
22 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
What is forensic pathology: science of recognizing, documenting and interpreting disease and injury in the human body, application of medical science to legal problems, determination of cause and manner of death, accident, homicide, suicide, natural cause, undetermined. What do forensic pathologists do: postmortem examination, clinical consultation, expert witness. The forensic autopsy: performed on instructions of legal authority responsible for investigating sudden, unexpected, suspicious and unnatural deaths (bc coroners service, a laboratory exercise that needs interpretation . Why do autopsies: cause and manner of death, identi cation, clari cation of circumstances, emerging infections, drug and environmental toxic exposure, extent of injury, survival period, contributory factors, criminal activity, documentation for the courts, quality assurance (medical care) Components of postmortem examination: scene investigation, circumstances surrounding death. Week 5: forensic pathology: photography, radiography, external examination, internal examination, gross, histology (microscopic, special studies, microbiology, toxicology, biochemistry, forensic laboratory (e. g. , ballistics, trace evidence) The forensic autopsy: findings cannot be interpreted in a vacuum.
