Essential Forensic Pathology

Core Studies and Exercises

Gilbert Corrigan

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781439876664
• eBook ISBN: 9781466554153
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Forensic Science
• Index: Law

A myriad of different scenarios await those entering the field of forensic pathology, ranging from gunshot wounds to asphyxiation to explosives to death from addiction. Essential Forensic Pathology: Core Studies and Exercises helps prepare pathologists in training by establishing what they must know about the most common death scenes they will enco

Forensic Pathology Essentials

III

In this part, the essentials are presented with a code. Learning objectives as essentials are distinguished by an M or an S

The M after an objective relates it as a memorized fact or concept. (“This you must know.” —John Egletis, MD, Ohio State University professor)

The S after an objective relates to a manual or physical skill. This you must do. Please self-assess your motor skills carefully.

Just as musicians have a play list, forensic pathologists have a fact list and a skill list. These are the essences of our profession. Know your objectives.

The Governmental Role in Forensic Pathology

3

Training in forensic pathology is generally fashioned through the government and its agencies; training in the forensic work carried out in the private sector is unscheduled. The training relates to and its availability is dependent upon the outside activities of the teaching staff at the residency institution.

Private consulting work is considered advanced in complexity and so it is not considered topically proper for initial training in forensic pathology. Some programs immediately place their residents into private casework. Private casework is any autopsy performed outside the usual jurisdiction of the teaching office.

Who actually runs the government office? Regardless of the legislative intent in formulating a political body to handle the problem of public death, the systems vary from site to site and from system to system, that is, whether the format is as a medical examiner system with a forensic pathologist in charge or a coroner’s system with a forensic pathologist as a consultant doctor. The circumstances of leadership and who gives the orders may not be well defined. The forensic pathologist may find himself or herself taking directions in some matters from the scene investigator, the chief secretary, the office manager, the police at the scene or at the autopsy, the lab manager, the chief investigator, the department chair in universities, the elected coroner, the appointed chief medical examiner or his or her delegate, someone from the district attorney’s office, a board chairman or member, or another police agency (FBI, or state agency associates). It depends on the leadership style and method of the person in charge of the agency.

I once had the pleasure of running a College of American Pathologists (CAP) lab inspection and I discovered that the woman in charge of the lab had the minimal lab training of a laboratory aide. But she was laboratory wise and a clever person with things and people, so after eight or ten years of working in the lab she was the best at administration and lab analysis in the group of twenty-five to thirty people. Over the years she had acquired the necessary certification and training for the lab leadership position and she did it well. So much for the PhD and doctorate degree in the medical lab. Home cooking works.

Political correctness and ethical considerations are important when dealing with government agencies and related organizations.

Objectives

1. Delineate the relationship and the progression of the Napoleonic code to the development of modern death investigation. M

2. Give several examples of proper (legal) involvement of the government in the investigation of death and give several examples of abusive situations in the investigation of death. M

3. Describe the role that some medical examiners play in the circumstance of cerebral comatose death. M

4. Compare the English common law coroner’s system to the Napoleonic medical examiner’s system of central Europe. M

5. Identify the following persons from the preceding forensic generation:

Vernard Adams, MD

Lester Adelson, MD

Michael M. Baden, MD

Andrew M. Baker, MD

Millard Bass, DO

Phillip Burch, MD

John D. Butts, MD

F. E. Camp, MD

Joye Carter, MD

Mary Case, MD

J. Caspir, MD

Richard Childs, LLB

John Coe, MD

Tracey Corey, MD

Greg Davis, MD

Joseph Davis, MD

Lance G. Davis, MD

Stanley Durlacher, MD

Bill Eckert, MD

J. Felo, DO

Russell Fisher, MD

Richard Ford, MD

David R. Fowler, MD

Richard C. Froede, MD

James L. Frost, MD

Randall Frost, MD

George Gantner, MD

Jan Garavaglia, MD

Samuel Gerber, MD

J. Glaister, MD

R. B. H. Gradwohl, MD

Michael Graham, MD

Ali Hameli, MD

Randy Hanzlick, MD

Christopher Happy, MD

Richard Harruff, MD

Milton Helpern, MD

Gordon Hennigar, MD

Charles Hirsch, MD

Donald R. Jason, MD

Nancy L. Jones, MD

Deborah Kay, MD

Ron Kornblum, MD

E. Kowolski, MD

Emil Laga, MD

Patrick E. Lantz, MD

Charles Larson, MD

Timothy Leary, PhD

Frances Glessner Lee

James L. Luke, MD

Geoffrey Mann, MD

K. Mant, MD

Ann Martin, MD

George McGrath

F. P. Miller III, MD

A. R. Moritz, MD

Thomas Naguchi, MD

Jefferey Nine, MD

Charles Norris, MD

Joshua A. Perper, MD

Edith Potter, MD

Clara Raven, MD

C. Schandl, MD

Barry Scheck, LLB

Carl Schmidt, MD

Oscar Schultz, MD

A. Shakir, MD

Ronald Singer, MS

Daniel Spitz, MD

Werner Spitz, MD

William Sturner, MD

M. Trotter, PhD

Jane Turner, MD

S. Turner, MD

T. Tworek, MD

M. Vance, MD

E. Von Hamm, MD

Cyril H. Wecht, MD

Dwayne A. Wolf, MD

James Young, MD

Ross Zumwalt, MD

6. Define the role of the probate judge in the scheme of death investigation. Compare death with a will, death with a trust, and death with no will. M

7. Explain the relationship of the medical examiner/coroner to the undertaker and undertaker societies/organizations. M

8. Define the jurisdiction of a case and describe several instances where the jurisdiction becomes a factor in the death investigation. M

9. What is the role of the coroner/medical examiner in the property of the deceased? Discuss the property issue involving aliens and travelers. M

10. From what source does the coroner/medical examiner derive authority for his actions? M

11. Under what circumstances does a hospital autopsy become a medicolegal autopsy? M

12. Define the relationship of the medical examiner/coroner to the authority and jurisdiction of the following government agencies. Also what is the role of the coroner/medical examiner Web site in these relationships? M

Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard

Immigration service

Local police, sheriff, social workers, attorney general

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

State highway patrol

Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Medical Examiner/Coroner Information Sharing Program (MecISP)

Civil Aeronautics Board, local airfield safety

Department of Energy

Fire departments

Local and state medical boards

State pharmaceutical board, federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)

Governor and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• The Author
• Section I: INTRODUCTION
• Section II: A PROGRAM IN FORENSIC PATHOLOGY
• Section III: FORENSIC PATHOLOGY ESSENTIALS
• Section IV: DEDICATION
• Index