Oxford Handbook of Forensic Medicine

Wyatt, Jonathan; Squires, Tim; Norfolk, Guy; Payne-James, Jason

doi:10.1093/med/9780199229949.001.0001

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Wyatte emphasizes the importance of being knowledgeable about identification, interpretation and documentation of injuries in medical practice. [10] It is especially important for junior doctors as they most often function in the capacity of first contact doctors and need to possess the ability to identify, interpret and document findings on bed head ticket before any intervention. The study revealed that the students had acquired a reasonable degree of competence in describing injuries for medico-legal purposes with a slight weakness for the description of burns.…”

Section: Questions On Medico-legal Aspects Of Injuries -mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the undergraduate forensic medicine teaching adequate to produce an expert medical witness?

et al. 2017

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Introduction In Sri Lanka, medico-legal work is carried out by specialist and non-specialist government medical practitioners. Therefore, the Forensic Medicine program assumes an important position in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) conducted in the third or fourth year in the undergraduate curriculum of most medical faculties in Sri Lanka is designed to assess practical aspects of key areas in forensic medicine. This study evaluates scores of the OSPE in undergraduates. Methods A selected sample of 515 answer scripts of fourth-year medical students in five consecutive batches from 2009-2013, were evaluated by two authors and the scores analysed. Results The mean scores for injury description were 51.6%, 58% and 59.5% for burns, fractures and basic injuries, respectively. Fifty-seven percent of students demonstrated competence with regard to MLEF and MLR documentation with marked weakness in stating the cause of death. Thirty-eight percent obtained less than 50% for questions related to identification and interpretation of postmortem changes, artefacts, injuries and pathological changes. Thirty-three percent scored less than 50% marks in the medico-legal interpretation of skeletal remains. In the study, more than 50% of students scored more than 80% marks in toxicology. Students obtained an average score of 68% and 51% respectively in the identification of dissecting instruments and dissection techniques. Conclusions The need to strengthen the undergraduate forensic medicine curriculum with close supervision by specialists and training of medical officers prior to engaging in medico-legal work is recommended to prevent gross errors in medicolegal practice.

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Section: Questions On Medico-legal Aspects Of Injuries -mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the undergraduate forensic medicine teaching adequate to produce an expert medical witness?

et al. 2017

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“…It is a valuable form of evidence for forensic investigation purposes 1 owing to its capacity to provide DNA evidence 2 , as well as to provide valuable intelligence and evidence from the interpretation of stain patterns (Bloodstain Pattern Analysis) [3][4][5][6] . Although DNA has limited chemical stability, research suggests that usable DNA for the purposes of analysis may be retained in dried bloodstains after several months, if not years, under adverse conditions 7 such as prolonged exposure to extreme temperature 2 and in substrates such as soil and asphalt [8][9][10] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The efficacy of luminol in detecting bloodstains that have been washed with sodium percarbonate and exposed to environmental conditions

Oldfield¹,

Morgan²,

Miles³

et al. 2017

Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences

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Blood evidence has a highly valuable role to play in crime investigation and crime reconstruction both in terms of DNA evidence and bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA). This paper presents the results of experiments that were designed to investigate the persistence and detectability of blood on clothing when exposed to different conditions and when washed in conjunction with sodium percarbonate (also known as active oxygen). Previous studies have demonstrated that the removal of traces of blood from denim and carpet is improved by the addition of sodium percarbonate, when compared with washing with detergent alone. In exploring this issue further, this study confirms that the efficacy of sodium percarbonate in removing bloodstains depends on the temperature of the wash cycle, the type of detergent used, drying time of blood and exposure of bloodstains to environmental conditions. The implications for the interpretation or blood evidence are considered, while the importance of continuing to develop an evidence base for the interpretation of blood evidence is emphasized.

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“…To date, some causes of death are still difficult to determine, in particular when a body is found in water. The key question remains if the individual was dead before entering the water or if ''true drowning'' was the cause of death [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whether drowning occurs in a suicide attempt, by accident or in relation to an intentional act (such as pushing), the pathophysiology of drowning is a complicated process where different steps can take place: such as breath holding, CO 2 accumulation and water aspiration [8,19]. Depending on the drowning medium, fresh or salt water, a variety of physiological alterations appear such as bronchospasms, electrolyte changes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other external findings such as skin maceration or cutis anserina are mere signs of immersion, than proof of a vital drowning [14]. By internal examination, rather non-specific findings can be present: frothy fluid in the airways, pleural fluid, emphysema aquosum (hyperexpansion of the lungs [8]), froth or foreign material in airways or the digestive system [12,19,20]. To date, the gold standard to substantiate ''true drowning'' remains diatom investigation, although certain critics and technical difficulties need to be taken into account [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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