Simpson's Forensic Medicine

by Knight, Bernard

• ISBN13: 9780340613702
• ISBN10: 034061370X
• Edition: 11th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-12-12
• Publisher: Hodder Education Publishers

Summary

This famous book, written by the foremost authority on forensic pathology, continues to fulfill its chief objective--to provide a clear, accessible introduction to forensic medicine. Now enhanced by over 100 high-quality color photographs chosen for their instructive potential, the Eleventh Edition of Forensic Medicine deals with the interface between medicine and the law in terms of medical examinations of both the living and the dead for civil and legal purposes. It discusses the increasingly relevant to medical practice ethical questions relating to the abuse of human rights and malpractice. International pertinence remains a priority, as the author concentrates on universally valid principles of forensic medicine that remain independent of national legal restrictions.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Eleventh Edition	xi
Author's Note	xi
FORENSIC MEDICINE AND TOXICOLOGY	1	(204)
The Doctor and the Law	3	(6)
The legal system	3	(1)
Legal systems	4	(1)
The doctor in court	5	(1)
The behaviour of a doctor in court	6	(1)
Medical reports and statements	6	(3)
Medical Aspects of Death	9	(11)
The nature and definitions of death	9	(3)
Death certification	12	(2)
Medico-legal investigation of death	14	(1)
The autopsy	15	(4)
Exhumation	19	(1)
Changes After Death	20	(12)
The early changes after death	20	(7)
Post-mortem decomposition	27	(3)
Post-mortem injuries	30	(2)
Identification of the Living and Dead	32	(6)
Morphological characteristics	32	(1)
Fingerprints	33	(1)
Identity from teeth	33	(1)
Tattoos	34	(1)
Identity of decomposed or skeletalized remains	35	(3)
Blood Stains, Groups, DNA and Identification	38	(6)
Blood stains	38	(6)
The Examination of Wounds	44	(12)
The law and wounding	44	(1)
Medical reports on wounding	44	(1)
Wounding, injury and trauma	45	(1)
Classification of wounds	45	(7)
Punching	52	(1)
Bite marks	52	(1)
Kicking	53	(1)
Defence injuries	54	(1)
Survival and activity after wounding	54	(1)
Duty of the doctor in wounding cases	54	(2)
Regional injuries	56	(9)
Head injuries	56	(5)
Spinal injury	61	(1)
Chest injuries	62	(1)
Abdominal injuries	63	(1)
Neck injuries	64	(1)
Firearm and Explosive Injuries	65	(8)
Types of firearms	65	(5)
Accident, suicide or murder?	70	(1)
The doctor's duty in firearm injuries and death	71	(1)
Explosives	71	(2)
Murder, Suicide or Accident?	73	(7)
Firearms	74	(1)
Knife wounds	75	(2)
Hanging, strangling and suffocation	77	(1)
Drowning	78	(1)
Poisoning	78	(2)
Transportation Injuries	80	(7)
Road traffic injuries	80	(4)
Railway injuries	84	(1)
Aircraft fatalities	85	(1)
Mass disasters and the doctor	85	(2)
`Asphyxia' and Pressure on the Neck and Chest	87	(9)
Suffocation	88	(1)
Choking	89	(1)
Pressure on the neck	90	(6)
Immersion and Drowning	96	(4)
Signs of immersion	96	(1)
Drowning	97	(3)
Effects of Injury	100	(5)
Haemorrhage	100	(1)
Infection	101	(1)
Embolism	101	(2)
Adult respiratory distress syndrome	103	(1)
Supra-renal haemorrhage	104	(1)
Unexpected and Sudden Death from Natural Causes	105	(8)
Causes of sudden and unexpected death	105	(8)
Pregnancy and Abortion	113	(8)
Pregnancy	113	(2)
Abortion	115	(3)
Legal termination of pregnancy	118	(3)
Death and Injury in Infancy	121	(10)
Still-births	121	(1)
Infanticide	122	(3)
Child abuse syndrome	125	(3)
Child sexual abuse	128	(1)
Sudden infant death syndrome ('SIDS')	129	(2)
Sexual Offences	131	(8)
Types of sexual offence	131	(3)
The genuineness of allegations of sexual assault	134	(1)
The doctor's duty in the examination of sexual offences	135	(3)
Examination of an alleged assailant	138	(1)
Neglect, Starvation and Abuse of Human Rights	139	(4)
Neglect and starvation	139	(1)
Physical abuse of human rights: torture	140	(3)
Injury Due to Heat, Cold and Electricity	143	(7)
Injury due to heat	143	(3)
Cold injury - hypothermia	146	(1)
Electrical injury	147	(3)
Medico-Legal Aspects of Mental Disease	150	(5)
Types of abnormal mental condition	150	(2)
Mental disease and criminal responsibility	152	(1)
The effect of drink or drugs on responsibility	153	(1)
Testamentary capacity	153	(2)
The Ethics of Medical Practice	155	(8)
Duties of physicians in general	156	(1)
Duties of physicians to the sick	157	(1)
Duties of physicians to each other	157	(1)
Medical ethics in practice	157	(1)
Medical confidentiality	158	(2)
Consent to medical treatment	160	(3)
Medical Malpractice	163	(8)
Medical negligence	163	(2)
Systems of compensation	165	(1)
Compensation and damages	166	(1)
Types of medical negligence	167	(1)
Professional misconduct	168	(3)
General Aspects of Poisoning	171	(5)
The toxic and fatal dose	172	(1)
Tolerance and idiosyncrasy	173	(1)
The doctor's duty in suspected poisoning	173	(1)
The collection and storage of samples for toxicological analysis	174	(1)
Samples required for toxicological analysis	174	(2)
Alcohol	176	(6)
Sources of alcohol	176	(1)
Absorption of alcohol	176	(1)
Elimination of alcohol	177	(1)
The measurement of alcohol	177	(1)
The effects of alcohol	178	(1)
Drinking and driving	179	(3)
Drugs of Dependence and Abuse	182	(5)
Tolerance, dependence and withdrawal symptoms	182	(1)
The dangers of drug dependence	183	(1)
Heroin, morphine and other opioids	183	(1)
Barbiturates and other hypnotics	184	(1)
Amphetamines	184	(1)
Cocaine	185	(1)
Cannabis	185	(1)
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)	185	(1)
Solvent abuse	185	(2)
Medicinal Poisons	187	(5)
Analgesics	187	(1)
Antidepressant and sedative drugs	188	(1)
Barbiturates	189	(1)
Chloral	190	(1)
Phenacetin	190	(1)
Lithium	190	(1)
Insulin	190	(2)
Corrosive and Metallic Poisons	192	(5)
Corrosive poisons	192	(1)
Heavy metal poisoning	193	(4)
Agro-Chemical Poisons	197	(2)
Pesticides and insecticides	197	(1)
Herbicides (weed-killers)	197	(2)
Gaseous Poisons	199	(4)
Carbon monoxide	199	(2)
Carbon dioxide	201	(1)
Ammonia	201	(1)
Cyanogen gas and cyanides	201	(2)
Miscellaneous Poisons	203	(2)
Strychnine	203	(1)
Halogenated hydrocarbons	203	(1)
Gasoline and kerosene	204	(1)
The glycols	204	(1)
Nicotine	204	(1)
Appendix: Recommended reading	205	(2)
Index	207