Mason’s Forensic Medicine and the Law

Foreword
Foreword
Preface to the Seventh Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Table of Statutes
Table of Statutory Instruments
Table of Cases
Part 1 Introduction to Forensic Medicine
1 Introduction to human anatomy and physiology
Medicine: an introduction to terms
Anatomical matters
Anatomical divisions and susceptibility
Cellular structures
Cardiovascular system
Controlling bleeding: the haemostatic system
Haematological system
Respiratory system
Nervous system
Gastro-intestinal system
Urinary system
Reproductive system
Endocrine system
Musculoskeletal system
Skin
2 An introduction to clinical medicine and clinical investigation
Regulation
The clinical method
Medical records
Medical career structures
Glossary
3 The autopsy
Prior to the autopsy examination
Scene examination and the pathologist
The autopsy examination
The forensic autopsy
The report
Autopsy radiology
The second autopsy
Exhumations
Cremated remains
Further reading material
4 The pathology of death
What is death?
Changes to the body shortly after death
Time of death in the early post-mortem period
Changes to the body associated with increasing post-mortem interval
Problem areas: post-mortem artefacts and injuries
Further reading material
5 Sudden natural death
Cardiac causes of sudden death: coronary artery disease/ischaemic heart disease
Role of stress – physical or otherwise
Other cardiac causes of sudden death
Non-cardiac causes of sudden death
Further reading material
Part 2 Injuries and Other Relevant Conditions
6 Wounding: injuries and their interpretation
Wounding and the criminal law: England and Wales and Northern Ireland
Wounding and the criminal law: Scotland
Wounding and medicine: phraseology and overview
Further reading material
7 Ballistics: injury and death due to firearms
Firearms and the law
Firearms
Determination of the manner of discharge
Post-mortem examination
Examination of suspects
Further reading material
8 Adult head injury and other brain pathology
Approach to the examination in head injury cases
Injuries to the scalp/face
Skull fractures
Intracranial haematomas (bleeding within the skull cavity including the brain)
Traumatic axonal injury
Brain swelling
Cerebral oedema
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Sudden death in head injury
Coma
Long-term effects of head injury
Brain death
Permanent vegetative state
Natural intracerebral haemorrhage
Intracerebral haemorrhage – other causes
Further rare causes of intracerebral haemorrhage
Disorders of blood flow and/or lack of oxygen to the brain including stroke
Meningitis
Cerebral abscess
Encephalitis
Covid-19
Dementias
Alzheimer’s disease
Vascular dementia
Iatrogenic pathology
Further reading material
9 Major blunt impact trauma: road traffic collisions and falls
Introduction
The law and road traffic collisions
Road traffic collisions including pedestrian deaths
Aircraft injuries and their investigation
Falls from a height
The relationship between natural disease and accidents
Fat embolism
Deep vein thrombosis
Further reading material
10 Asphyxia, pressure to the neck and similar entities
Legal aspects
Pressure to the neck
The ‘asphyxial’ signs
Injuries to the neck in manual strangulation
Injuries to the neck in ligature strangulation
Self-strangulation
Arm locks
Hanging
Mechanism of death in cases of pressure to the neck
Problem areas in cases of pressure to the neck
Restriction of chest movements/crush asphyxia
The other ‘asphyxias’
Special types of deaths: autoerotic deaths
Further reading material
11 Drowning and hypothermia
Immersion deaths
Signs of immersion
Deaths from drowning
Features of drowning
Difference between fresh water and salt water drowning
So-called ‘dry drowning’
Other findings of immersed bodies
Natural death in water
Diagnosis of drowning
Delayed death from drowning
Problem areas of bodies in water
Hypothermia
Physical injury due to cold
Post-mortem freezing
Problem areas of a hypothermic death
Further reading material
12 Heat, fire and electricity
Legal aspects
Burns
Electricity
Lightning
Fire
Smoke
Carbon monoxide
Hydrogen cyanide and other gases
Survivors of fires
Immolation
Heat stroke
Explosions
Further reading material
13 Child injuries and deaths
The law
‘Sudden infant death syndrome’, ‘sudden unexpected death in infancy’ and ‘unascertained’
Suffocation
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy or Fictitious Illness by Proxy
Stillbirth
Accidental death in childhood
Non-accidental injury (NAI)/child abuse
Head injury in the young
Thoraco-abdominal trauma
Starvation and neglect
Conclusion
Further reading material
14 Sexual assaults
Sexual offences in adults
Sexual offences against children and young people
Further reading material
Part 3 Allied Forensic Disciplines
15 Forensic psychiatry
Introduction
Psychiatry and psychology
Psychiatric report writing
Range and classification of psychiatric disorders
Psychiatric disorders and common medico-legal presentations
The relationship between mental disorder and offending
The criminal justice system and mentally disordered offenders
Further reading material
16 Forensic odontology
Introduction
Basic dental anatomy
Dental identification of the deceased
Retrieval of dental records
Post-mortem dental examination
Dental reconciliation
Bite mark analysis and comparison
Dental age estimation of the living
Further reading material
17 Forensic toxicology
Principles of forensic toxicology
Legal aspects
An overview of forensic toxicology
Techniques in forensic toxicology
Alcohol
Drugs of abuse
Medicinal drugs
Interpretation of toxicology findings
Further reading material
18 Introduction to forensic science and crime scene analysis
Locard’s Principle
Validation
Accreditation
Regulation
Initial scene capture
Trace evidence
Forensic blood pattern analysis
DNA
Further reading material
Part 4 Forensic Medicine and the Legal System
19 Criminal justice in the United Kingdom
Introduction: the United Kingdom’s criminal justice systems
Investigation
Prosecution
Trial
Appeal
Funding
Further reading material
20 Coroners’ courts and fatal accident inquiries
Introduction
England and Wales
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Further reading material
21 Deaths in state settings
Introduction
The legal viewpoint
The pathological viewpoint
Further reading material
22 Care of detainees
Introduction
Initial assessment in custody
Provision of healthcare in custody
Specific functions of healthcare professionals
Medical assessment of the detainee
Common medical problems
Mental health
Intellectual disabilities
Substance misuse
Prescribing in custody
Fitness for interview
Appropriate adults
Terrorism Act detainees
Intimate searches
Fitness for release
Deaths in police custody
23 Role and duties of the expert
Admissibility
Objectivity
Procedure
Content of expert reports
Duties
Tips for experts writing reports
Tips for experts giving oral evidence
Tips for lawyers
Further reading material
Appendix A Aguide to medical terminology
Prepositional prefixes
Some suffixes
Anatomic prefixes
Appendix B Medical and dental qualifications in the United Kingdom
Primary medical qualifications
Historic medical qualifications
Postgraduate medical degrees
Membership of the Royal Colleges and Faculties
Postgraduate medical diplomas
Dental qualifications
Index