Author: Helen Whitwell

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2015-01-01

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 1780434766

Mason's Forensic Medicine for Lawyers covers all aspects of the relationship between forensic medicine and the law including an overview of general issues relating to medical ethics, criminal liability, negligence and the regulation of the medical profession. The Court of Appeal and the Criminal Procedure Rules have dramatically changed what is expected of experts and the presentation of expert evidence to the Courts since the previous edition in 2008. The book considers each key stage from the reporting of the death to the investigation and diagnosis of the cause of death, detailing medical and legal considerations that must be taken into account. Each chapter begins with an explanation of basic medical issues including relevant anatomy, identifying controversies in the various forensic areas. The sixth edition has been rewritten and restructured to provide a more analytical approach, with new chapters on the important areas of sexual offences and DNA, and expanded chapters on post-mortem examination to include explanation of the practicalities of an autopsy from the medical perspective. It also includes coverage of the law and procedure surrounding the filming of post-mortems including examples of successful challenges to, and impugning of, post-mortems on the basis of techniques, inferences, expert evidence and public law challenges to the Coroners courts such as access; remit and limitations of inquiry. Contents: 1 Human anatomy and physiology - A quick trip around the body explaining the body's systems with diagrams; 2 Principles of medicine, clinical examination and scientific method including common medical notation; 3 Forensic autopsy - medical practicalities and principles of autopsies, procedural aspects, legal aspects of death; 4 Medical aspects of death and physical changes after death; 5 HM Coroner and sudden deaths (England, Wales and Northern Ireland); inquests; 6 Procurator fiscal and sudden deaths; 7 Natural disease as a cause of death; 8 Injuries and their interpretation: major trauma; injury types - gunshot; head injuries; accidental and non-accidental; 9 Asphyxia; this includes strangulation and suffocation; 10 Drowning and hypothermia; 11 Fire deaths including explosions, burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning; 12 Child deaths including 'baby-shaking' and abuse in children; Sudden infant deaths; 13 Sexual offences; 14 Odontology; 15 DNA; 16 Toxicology, drugs and poisons; 17 Examination of detained persons; 18 Deaths in custody including prison; 19 Deaths in other State settings: hospitals; 20 Legal system and prosecutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; 21 Role and duties of the expert: expert vs treating doctors; 22 Confidentiality, consent, negligence, disclosure, privilege; 23 Court case work: admissibility, case management, abuse of process.