Book Description

A Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology, Sixth Edition discusses medico-legal points concerning the different causes of death, examination of evidence, and crimes that merit medical attention and advice. The author reviews the legal procedures in criminal courts of medical jurisprudence, including the inquest procedures, the difficulties encountered in detecting crime, medical evidence, rules for presenting evidence, and the powers of criminal courts. The post-mortem examination concerns the external and internal examination of the deceased to establish identity (if unknown), to determine time and cause of death. Under the written orders of the court, an exhumation can take place when suspicions of foul play arises after death. The author discusses death in terms of somatic (physical) or molecular (tissues and cells dying individually after vital organs have stopped functioning). The book also describes in detail the primary modes of dying, namely, syncope, asphyxia, and coma. The book explains the medico-legal aspects of injuries, pregnancy, legitimacy, rape, miscarriage, infanticide, and insanity. This book is intended for medical students, but can also benefit students in law courses, and practitioners of legal jurisprudence and of the medical sciences.