Atlas of Forensic Pathology


Book Description

This book is specifically designed for non-pathologists who normally interact with forensic pathologists. It covers topics within forensic pathology, including the forensic autopsy, postmortem changes and time of death and body identification.




Forensic Pathology for Police, Death Investigators, Attorneys, and Forensic Scientists


Book Description

Forensic Pathology for Police, Death Investigators, Attorneys, and Forensic Scientists is a forensic pathology book specifically written for professionals who interact with forensic pathologists. The book includes sections that address various general topics which are not normally present in the typical forensic pathology text, such as descriptions of medical, pathology and forensic pathology training, basic anatomy and physiology, an overview of other forensic science disciplines, and autopsy performance. Forensic Pathology for Police, Death Investigators, Attorneys, and Forensic Scientists also covers classic topics in forensic pathology, including death investigation, death certification, postmortem changes, and the entire range of case types, ranging from natural deaths to drug-related deaths to various types of violent death. The text is written in easy-to-understand language, and is complemented by hundreds of high-quality photographs.




Forensic Pathology


Book Description

Forensic Pathology is a comprehensive reference that uses a case-oriented format to address, explain and guide the reader through the varied topics encountered by forensic pathologists. Developed in response to a severe void in the literature, the book addresses topics ranging from medicolegal investigation of death to death scene investigation, forensic autopsy, and artifacts of resuscitation as well as complications of medical therapy, forensic osteology, forensic odontology, forensic photography, and death certification. The book includes various types of cases, including sudden natural death, asphyxia, motor vehicle collisions, death in custody, child abuse and elder abuse, acute psychiatric and emotional deaths, and pregnancy. It contains sample descriptions of pathological lesions which serve to aid pathologists in reporting their findings to law enforcement agencies, attorneys, and others involved in investigations of sudden death. The concepts outlined in the text are beautifully illustrated by large, colorful photographs. There are also "Do and Don't" sections at the end of each chapter that provide guidance for handling the types of cases examined. This work will benefit not only experienced forensic pathologists, but also hospital pathologists who occasionally performs medicolegal autopsies; doctors in training; medical examiners; law enforcement personnel; crime scene investigators; attorneys; and fellows and students of the medical sciences. - Large, colorful photographs which beautifully illustrate the concepts outlined in the text. - Sample descriptions of pathological lesions which serve to aid pathologists in reporting their findings to law enforcement agencies, attorneys, and others involved in investigations of sudden death. - 'Do and Don't' sections at the end of each chapter which provide guidance for handling the types of cases examined within preceding sections.




Forensic Medicolegal Injury and Death Investigation


Book Description

Introducing the basic concepts of clinical forensic medicine and death investigation, this book covers the main areas of forensic investigation . It provides an introduction to forensic science and coverage of injury patterns, natural disease, accidental trauma, child injury and fatalities, and domestic violence. Anyone who has direct contact with death, crime, and the medicolegal system, including nurses, physicians, attorneys, death investigators, forensic pathologists, and police detectives, will find this an invaluable reference.




Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States


Book Description

Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.




Criminal Poisoning


Book Description

In this revised and expanded edition, leading forensic scientist John Trestrail offers a pioneering survey of all that is known about the use of poison as a weapon in murder. Topics range from the use of poisons in history and literature to convicting the poisoner in court, and include a review of the different types of poisons, techniques for crime scene investigation, and the critical essentials of the forensic autopsy. The author updates what is currently known about poisoners in general and their victims. The Appendix has been updated to include the more commonly used poisons, as well as the use of antifreeze as a poison.




Pearls and Pitfalls in Forensic Pathology


Book Description

This practical text guides the reader in infant and child death investigation from the moment the phone rings to the final signature on the death certificate. Using an easily understood conversational writing style, the text imparts up-to-date, practice-based information on approaches to death investigation, clarifying misunderstandings and supplementing training gaps. Chapters also impart personal experiences relating to policy, procedure, standards, and the anticipation of problems during death investigations. Interspersed throughout the text are procedural standards from the National Association of Medical Examiners and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as high-quality images and observations of effective administrative and management strategies for offices involved with death investigations. The book is packaged with a password, giving users online access to all text and images. Pearls and Pitfalls in Forensic Pathology: Infant and Child Death Investigation is an essential resource for medicolegal death investigators, coroners, medical examiners, forensic pathologists, forensic laboratorians and attorneys.




Medicolegal Death Investigation System


Book Description

The US Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of The National Academies to conduct a workshop that would examine the interface of the medicolegal death investigation system and the criminal justice system. NIJ was particularly interested in a workshop in which speakers would highlight not only the status and needs of the medicolegal death investigation system as currently administered by medical examiners and coroners but also its potential to meet emerging issues facing contemporary society in America. Additionally, the workshop was to highlight priority areas for a potential IOM study on this topic. To achieve those goals, IOM constituted the Committee for the Workshop on the Medicolegal Death Investigation System, which developed a workshop that focused on the role of the medical examiner and coroner death investigation system and its promise for improving both the criminal justice system and the public health and health care systems, and their ability to respond to terrorist threats and events. Six panels were formed to highlight different aspects of the medicolegal death investigation system, including ways to improve it and expand it beyond its traditional response and meet growing demands and challenges. This report summarizes the Workshop presentations and discussions that followed them.




Working Stiff


Book Description

“Fun…and full of smart science. Fans of CSI—the real kind—will want to read it” (The Washington Post): A young forensic pathologist’s “rookie season” as a NYC medical examiner, and the hair-raising cases that shaped her as a physician and human being. Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. While her husband and their toddler held down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation—performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy’s two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines Flight 587. An unvarnished portrait of the daily life of medical examiners—complete with grisly anecdotes, chilling crime scenes, and a welcome dose of gallows humor—Working Stiff offers a glimpse into the daily life of one of America’s most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies—and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on television to reveal the secret story of the real morgue. “Haunting and illuminating...the stories from her average workdays…transfix the reader with their demonstration that medical science can diagnose and console long after the heartbeat stops” (The New York Times).




Handbook of Forensic Pathology


Book Description

Handbook of Forensic Pathology, Second Edition is an up-to-date, concise manual illustrating all core aspects of modern forensic pathology. This edition retains the outline format of the original, which allows for quick access and rapid assimilation. Written in no-nonsense, easily understandable language, this precise and thorough yet compact resou